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Lawmaker eyes streetlights fund for repair of Kannat Tabla road
Rep. Lorenzo Deleon Guerrero (Ind-Saipan) last week introduced a bill to repurpose funds for streetlights toward the pavement and drainage systems for the Kannat Tabla Road.
House Bill 19-107 amends Public Law 19-08—the budget act for fiscal year 2015—to redirect $1,802,403 in funds for Department of Public Works streetlights to the “road paving and construction of necessary drainage systems at Kannat Tabla Road.”
The $1.8 million comes from program modifications to the Marianas Visitors Authority budget as established in the budget act. Public Works will submit all requests for payments for the road paving and drainage systems expenses to the MVA for payment.
“Residents who live along Kannat Tabla Road are suffering due to the damage the specified road endured during excessive rains. Kannat Tabla Road also lacks a drainage system that is crucial for maintaining floods. Temporary measures are always taken to temporarily alleviate such a drastic issue. However, Kannat Tabla Road continues to sustain damage during inclement weather, which requires additional repairs each time the road is sabotaged,” the bill states.
In a related initiative, Guerrero also filed last week a House resolution to request DPW to include Kannat Tabla road under the “CNMI Territorial Transportation Improvement Plan,” or TTIP.
The TTIP describes how federal funds will be spent on eligible projects for safe, efficient, and reliable transportation systems. The plan is submitted to and funds are from the Federal Highway Administration.
House Resolution 19-34 says the population in Kannat Tabla has “grown tremendously over the past several years” and that the temporary road fixes with recycled asphalt is a “Band Aid approach.”
“Every rainy season the people of the Kannat Tabla area suffer because of flooding and bad road conditions.
“The run-off water not only damages Kannat Tabla area, most especially the roads but neighboring area of Dandan as well.
“It is necessary to included Kannat Tabla road under the [TTIP] due to the rapid growth in populations,” the resolution states.
