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Construction of new Tinian reservoir moves forward
Dela Cruz: Design is complete and has been funded for
The Tinian reservoir project has been given the go signal to begin construction and an announcement has been issued to solicit bids from contractors who will build it, according to Lt. Gov. Jude Hofschneider Friday.
He said the project involves the construction of a half-million-gallon water reservoir in Carolina Heights.
“All everyone has to wait for is for the bids to come in and once the period for the bidding process is done and the contractor is selected, the construction period will commence,” Hofschneider said.
He said Tinian looks forward to having a new reservoir because of the impending plan of the U.S. military to expand its activities on the island.
“We are also looking forward to this completion because of the current situation of the reservoir. It needs repair,” he added.
The water reservoir will be built adjacent to the existing tank in Carolina Heights.
According to Tinian Mayor’s Office chief of staff Don Farrell, the water reservoir project was initiated by Tinian Mayor Ramon Dela Cruz in 2010 and was one of the first projects he pushed for upon being elected to office.
Shortly after taking office and initiating the project, Del Cruz faced a variety of local and federal regulatory agencies and continued to press the issue since then.
The final decision was made when grants management specialist Keith W. Aughenbaugh of the U.S. Department of the Interior’s Office of Insular Affairs authorized CNMI Capital Improvement Program administrator Vicky Villagomez to proceed with the project on Oct. 15, 2014.
Aughenbaugh stated in his letter that OIA had reviewed the documents submitted by CNMI CIP office on Sep. 15, 2014 and found the project to be in compliance with the National Environmental Policy Act or NEPA.
The project has funding of $936,594 through CIP.
Dela Cruz said he had been pushing for this project for several years.
“I believe it’s almost been a decade already but previous legislators reprogrammed the money appropriated for this project to address some other priorities,” he said.
“This additional water tank is necessary because we cannot shut down the one existing tank for cleaning and inspection until we have another on hand. Having the additional tank added to the system will provide gravity-fed drinking water to our people, even when the power system goes down during storms,” Dela Cruz said.
Farrell also said the CNMI Water Task Force led by Pete Sasamoto has also been very helpful.
In an earlier email to Saipan Tribune, Sasamoto stated that the Water Task Force had the project designed in 2010 at the request of Villagomez. After they secured an approved budget from OIA, they proceeded with a bid that was published on Oct. 27, 2014.
Besides this project, Dela Cruz said he had been working with not only the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers but also with CNMI CIP director Elizabeth Balajadia and the U.S Marines Forces Pacific in the last two years on a long-term plan for the reconstruction of the Tinian Harbor.
