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NMHC shelves proposed Plumeria housing project
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Posted on Dec 29 2005
The Northern Marianas Housing Corp. has shelved the Babauta administration’s Plumeria Estate project for lack of identified funding and in view of the entry of a new leadership.
“It is shelved unless the new administration wants to get into it. We are in a wait-and-see situation,” said NMHC board member Tom Glen Quitugua.
Further, he said that the project depends primarily on the Housing Task Force, which currently lacks a chairman. It was previously chaired by Public Works Secretary John Reyes, who resigned recently.
“Nobody is heading the task force right now,” Quitugua said.
Quitugua, who is the chairman of the Commonwealth Development Authority, earlier described Plumeria as a worthwhile project. He said it would help solve the housing shortage in the CNMI.
“The government has always said that there’s a shortage of homes. So if there’s a developer, Plumeria is a worthwhile project to entertain,” said Quitugua.
The task force had asked the Marianas Public Land trust to finance the construction of roadways, water and sewer facilities in the proposed site in Koblerville, costing some $5.8 million. The proposal did not pass the MPLT board, citing the government’s lack of capacity to repay the Trust.
Earlier, Reyes said that the task force would tap 702 capital improvement funds for fiscal years 2007 and 2008 to pay off MPLT.
The incoming administration of Fitial-Villagomez, however, is more likely to use this funding for other priority projects.
The Plumeria project involves the construction of new houses for first-time homeowners on approximately 13 hectares of land in Koblerville.
