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USDA to visit NMC next year
U.S. Department of Agriculture area director Joseph Diego has confirmed his visit to the Northern Marianas College on Jan. 21, 2015, according to regent William Torres, who hopes USDA is the route via which the college would push through with its campus reconstruction.
“We need to act on facility financing,” he said yesterday. He added the college would essentially “duplicate” how Guam colleges used USDA funds for their campus improvements.
This month USDA awarded the University of Guam with a $21.7 million loan for renovation and expansion of its student services center and for a new engineering building. The department also awarded $5 million to the Guam Community College for renovations and expansions to a couple of its campus buildings.
UOG has also previously availed of loan programs for its facilities. The university has borrowed $13.5 million for 40 years at 4.5 percent interest, and pays this debt with an annual $200,000, along with committed money from Guam legislature and its own internal revenue sources.
Torres called UOG’s $200,000 a year repayment “really low.” He said, “You cannot beat” this financing rate, and added that his subcommittee on facilities would report on and recommend USDA for facility funding.
The next Board of Regents meeting is scheduled for this Thursday.
On Dec. 5, the committee invited stakeholders from the different areas of government for their input on facility financing and alternative energy.
According to an attendance list, representatives from the Commonwealth Developmental Authority, Department of Public Works, and Office of Delegate Gregorio Kilili C. Sablan, as well as Rep. Ramon I. Tebuteb were present at that meeting.
Torres said he had hoped to receive input from the Commonwealth Utilities Corp., because options like alternative energy are “no longer something you decide on afterwards.”
He said a facility plan would have to incorporate alternative energy from the get go. This would result in “huge savings” for the college, he said.
The college has not undergone major reconstruction since it was built on or about 1955 as a single storey, semi-concrete hospital.
