Previous Story
CPA exec says projects still ongoing
Commonwealth Ports Authority executive director Maryann Q. Lizama gave members of the Rotary Club of Saipan a rundown of the ports authority’s ongoing projects yesterday at Hyatt Regency Saipan.
Lizama said that one of the biggest projects on Saipan is the rehabilitation of the main runway at Francisco C. Ada/Saipan International Airport.
“The rehabilitation of the surface of the runway…will allow another 20 years to provide a safe landing zone,” she said.
The project will narrow the runway width from 200 feet to 150 feet, relocate the runway lights, and restore runway 6/24 back into a parallel taxiway.
Another project is a proposed replica of the Titanic on Tinian by Bridge Investment Group, a company formed by U.S.-mainland based investors. They are in the process of negotiating a conditional lease right now with CPA.
“It will be presented to the board of directors in this Friday’s board meeting,” Lizama said.
“The board has actually expressed a definite interest in trying to get this project to move forward,” she added.
CPA is also working on extending Rota airport’s 1,000-foot runway, as required by the Federal Aviation Administration.
Lizama said that most of these projects have been ongoing in the past four years on Saipan, Tinian, and Rota and that the Federal Aviation Administration funds most of the projects.
In other news, as a reminder to the public, she told Rotary that people “can no longer sit at the arrival curbside of the airport.”
Police officers will enforce and advise parkers or waiters.
“It is a regulation enforced by [the Transportation Security Administration] and the penalty for CPA is $11,000 per vehicle. They cannot sit at the curbside. It is an active loading and unloading only. Any vehicles will be booted or towed,” Lizama said.
