An initial tender for $1.3 million for construction was announced, resulting in a scandal when associate minister Peseta Vaifou Tevaga was revealed to be a part-owner of the winning company.
[5] In April 2019 the village council and three families agreed to lease 26 hectares of customary land for the project in exchange for a $4 million payment.
[9][10] In January 2020 the government announced that the cost of the project had increased by $3 million;[11] it later admitted that this variation had not been tendered and had also been awarded to Peseta Vaifou Tevaga's company.
[16] Other experts criticised the lack of a control tower, fuel, and other facilities, calling the airport "a bit of land that they made into a super roadway" and alleging that it was constructed for "the political gain of a selected few".
[19] In July 2022 Minister of Finance Mulipola Anarosa Ale Molioo announced that the project would be the subject of a "forensic audit".