‘FAA shutdown no immediate impact on CPA’

The partial shutdown of the Federal Aviation Administration will have no immediate impact on the Commonwealth Ports Authority for now because all ongoing airport projects on three islands have secured the necessary funding from previous years’ allocations, according to CPA executive director Edward Deleon Guerrero yesterday.

If there is be any impact on the ports authority, he said these would be on future projects they had proposed under FAA’s Airport Improvement Project program.

Dozens of airport construction projects across the nation were put on hold since last week and thousands of federal employees are not working after the U.S. Congress failed to pass legislation to keep the FAA operating. The FAA’s operating authority expired at midnight of July 23, forcing a partial agency shutdown. As a result, dozens of stop-work orders were issued over the weekend for projects to build and modernize airport control towers, as well as other improvement projects.

Saipan Tribune learned that FAA gave CPA about $20 million for fiscal year 2010, under its AIP program.

Deleon Guerrero described all ongoing projects on Saipan, Rota, and Tinian as “fully funded” up to the final phases. Among these is the rehabilitation of the Saipan International Airport runway, which is fully funded by FAA, estimated to cost over $19 million to date.

However, in case of “emergency change orders” for this project, the FAA’s continued shutdown at the national level may have a slight impact on the project, Deleon Guerrero said.

“We may need additional funding to complete the main runway project, but that’s the only impact we’re seeing now if there’s no resolution to this [delay] in the U.S. Congress. Whether we will need big or small amounts in change orders, if it will take longer, it will bring impact to the project,” he told Saipan Tribune.

Deleon Guerrero, however, pointed out that CPA will not stop work on the runway rehabilitation and the agency is still on track to meet the October completion of the project.

He said that CPA has yet to receive any formal notification from FAA relating to budget cuts or the partial shutdown at the national level.

Because CPA’s operation is fully funded by its own seaport and airport revenues, Deleon Guerrero said the situation at the national level bears no impact on the agency’s performance.

“As far as operation [is concerned], we don’t get any federal funds for operation because we’re using our own revenues. But we’re hoping that the situation [at the national level] will not go that far and we’re hopeful that some compromise will be reached soon so FAA can go back to normal operation,” he said.

CPA has proposed several projects to FAA—worth $59 million—under the federal agency’s AIP grants. Among the biggest proposed projects is the building of a state-of-the-art Aircraft Rescue Firefighting Center.