USDA: Old NMC expansion feasible

The U.S. Department of Agriculture-Rural Development is urging the revival of a Northern Marianas College on-site expansion program that was earlier shelved to give way for the Pacific Gateway project, describing the project as “feasible.”

In a June 23, 2004 letter, Guam-based USDA rural development manager Joseph M. Diego said the shelved project, called NMC Business Center, “appears to be eligible for funding under our Community Facilities Program.”

Diego made the statement following an earlier inquiry on the subject by terminated NMC program director Jack Angello in relation to Rep. Justo Quitugua’s legislative research work.

“[We want] to explore the possibility of the USDA assisting the NMC in a facilities project at its current campus location, not the La Fiesta site. This information will be relayed to CNMI congressman Justo Quitugua, House chairman for the Education Committee, who has asked me to research viable avenues to improve NMC’s current campus, which is in need of new and expanded building space,” Angello said in a June 9 letter to Diego.

Diego, in his response to Angello, explained that community programs can make and guarantee loans to develop essential facilities in rural areas and towns of up to 20,000 in population, either through a loan or grant.

“The loan program has no dollar amount limitation and is available for larger projects,” he said.

A maximum grant application can be no more than $100,000.

Earlier, the USDA-RD expressed concerns over NMC’s La Fiesta project—recently put on hold by the NMC Board of Regents for lack of funding—citing program eligibility and funding issues.

In particular, the USDA was concerned about NMC’s lack of authority from the Legislature to incur public debt for La Fiesta.

NMC earlier said it would need some $10 million to renovate La Fiesta and purchase some collateral equipment.

In a July 1, 2004 letter to Quitugua, Angello said the on-campus project “can still be a reality, which will enhance the current campus tremendously.”

“You can see from the positive response from the USDA-RD that the NMC Business Center is a viable project, which should have been pursued by NMC instead of creating a fiasco at the La Fiesta mall,” said Angello.

Angello said the Business Center program, originally called NMC Business and Tourism Center, was estimated to cost $8 million, and when pursued today with a 15-percent inflation rate, “is still below $10 million, which is well within the scope of a reasonable loan request from USDA.”

He noted that the project makes use of the present campus, eliminating rental or lease payments, unlike in the case of the La Fiesta mall.

Angello, in a separate letter to Quitugua in June, noted that the project’s architectural and engineering design had been completed in 1998.

The proposed complex aims to service both the local and international students “with an emphasis on training local residents.”

Angello said the project would be modified “to accommodate the current trends in high tech; audio-visual, film, and telecommunications productions; [and] international student training that was approved by the NMC board in 2000.”

The proposal, which was pushed during the presidency of Agnes McPhetres, was reportedly not actively pursued when she left the college nearly four years ago.

It was further thrown to the back burner when then president Kenneth Wright assumed his post in 2002.

Wright pushed for the Pacific Gateway project, which led to the $7.5-million acquisition of the La Fiesta mall in San Roque.

The La Fiesta deal, which was sealed by former NMC board chairman Vince Seman on behalf of NMC, obliges the college to pay the mall’s original owners $200,000 a year beginning October this year, regardless whether the facility is being used or not.

The NMC said that it cannot use the facility right now due to serious financial problems.

The mall was originally owned by JAL and Hotel Nikko Saipan. It was later sold to Cocos Lagoon Corp., which then sold it to NMC.