Funding allotted for Tanapag sewer project

The CNMI government has identified additional funding to complete the relocation and upgrading of sewer pump stations in Tanapag, which experiences perennial sewage overflows that reach down to the beach waters.

Gov. Juan N. Babauta signed House Bill 14-149, which sought to re-appropriate various fund balances from capital improvement projects. The measure, which became Public Law 14-31 sometime last week, re-appropriates the funds for other infrastructure projects.

The law allocates some $283,000 to complete the relocation of the T-1 pump station to the location of the T-2 pump station and to finish the upgrade of the T-2 pump station.

“This is a critical capital improvement project that is not only vital to the health and welfare of the people living in Precinct 4, but for the people of the entire Commonwealth,” Babauta said.

The Commonwealth Utilities Corp.’s executive director is the fund’s expenditure authority, Babauta said, urging the utility firm to complete the project in an effective and efficient manner.

Babauta dispelled the notion that the re-appropriation of the money for the pump station upgrade would violate the Office of Insular Affairs’ policy on re-appropriation of 702 CIP matching funds from completed and closed projects.

“The OIA policy, as addressed in previous communications, does not allow a new project valued at less than $500,000 to be approved for a new CIP project,” Babauta said. “The OIA’s policy does, however, allow funds of less than $500,000 to be re-appropriated so long as the funds are certified as available and are being used to supplement the funding of an existing CIP project in such a manner that the sum total…exceeds $500,000.”

The governor noted that PL 14-5 already appropriated $374,766 for the sewer pump station projects. Added with the new $283,000, the total fund for the project exceeds half-a-million dollars.

The CUC had earlier voiced the funding concern to complete the pump station improvements to address a recurring sewage overflow in Tanapag.

Its wastewater division earlier developed the proposal to relocate the T-1 pump station. The existing location is near public facilities such as the Tanapag Social Hall, children’s playground, and nearby beaches.

The CUC had received numerous citations from regulatory agencies, including the Coastal Resources Management Office regarding the frequent sewage overflow.