DPW eyes funding to fix Shell Dandan intersection

Department of Public Works Secretary Martin Sablan acknowledges the flooding problem at the Shell Dandan gas station intersection, which during heavy rain makes the road seem more like a river than part of a highway.

“Let’s put it this way. Back in the past when they improved that As Terlaje Hill that goes up to San Vicente, at that time the population in that area was very small and that was in the mid-1990s. But now the flooding there is getting worse. I see it and actually even on weekends I have my staff go out there and remove the debris.”

Sablan said DPW is working on a solution to lessen the flooding in the intersection that is made worse by the large amount of runoff and debris coming from the quarry in Kannat Tabla.

“We are putting our heads together and looking first at funding so we can come up with a better plan on how to improve that particular intersection. The problem is all coming from Kannat Tabla and I don’t know if they took that in consideration when they worked on that particular intersection because the drainage system is very small. The volume of water there is like a river. We could have in 5 to 10 minutes maybe 3 inches of rainfall. Those are the things that we need to put our heads together.”

And like all the maladies in the CNMI, the flooding problem at that intersection can only be mitigated with funds.

“Funding…is the biggest key. It’s not that we can’t fix it. It’s the amount of money that we need to put back or place to the side so we can improve it. The plan calls for looking at what we can do to improve the intersection, second is I need to go to the Legislature and talk about that particular road that goes up to Kannat Tabla and see if we can come up with some funding. There’s already funding for that area to improve the road, but when we improve the road, part of it is we need to fix the drainage system.”

Sablan said he also wants the Legislature to set aside money for land compensation.

“I need to work very hard for that particular precinct, which is Precinct 5, and that’s a big precinct. They need to put their minds together and get some more funding from other precincts so we can clear the right of way and we can finally pay those people who we took their property for road improvement. Once we can clear that, we can work to put money on the side and come up with a better plan to improve the drainage.”

Sadly, Sablan said, that portion of the highway cannot be funded by federal agencies so it’s up to the government to set aside local funds to arrest the flooding problem at the intersection.

The good news, though, is that flooding problems along Bead Road, particularly in front of Cabrera Center in Garapan and in front of Ador’s Restaurant in San Antonio will soon be a thing of the past, according to the DPW secretary.

“We have a design to improve the Beach Road area from American Memorial Park to Pacific Islands Club Saipan in San Antonio. It entails drainage improvement, sidewalks, and upgrading our roads. We have four phases and about every phase costs between $5 million and $7 million.”

Sablan also has a short message to commuters and the general public: “I just want to inform the public that they should give way to the contractors so they can be safe and be patient because eventually we would be able to improve all our highways.”