Cohen: Insular areas must not rely too much on feds for infra funding

Insular areas must find ways to upgrade their infrastructure needs without relying too much on fresh funding from the federal government, according to Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Interior David B. Cohen.

During last Thursday’s meeting of the Interagency Group on Insular Areas in Washington D.C., Cohen emphasized that, in the current fiscal environment, it is important for the territories to find ways to finance their infrastructure needs without significant new infusions of federal money.

It is estimated that U.S. insular areas, including the CNMI, need an estimated $800 million to finance needed improvements to their water, wastewater and solid waste systems.

The meeting, held at the DOI’s Office of Insular Affairs with five federal agencies, aimed to discuss options on how to help insular areas surmount this funding difficulty. Among the options being considered is a territorial bond bank, which would allow the territories to pool their projects together and borrow at a lower cost.

Cohen and Environmental Protection Agency Pacific Islands Office Manager John McCarroll called the group together under the auspices of the IGIA.

Commonwealth Resident Representative Pedro A. Tenorio was also present to address the IGIA participants.

Congress has asked the IGIA to advise the Secretary of the Interior in preparing a plan to implement infrastructure projects that are necessary, according to a report completed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, for the CNMI to provide its residents with clean drinking water on a 24-hour, seven-day basis. The plan is due by the end of July 2005.

Also included in the panel of participants were representatives from the Department of Agriculture, the Department of Housing and Urban Development, the Army Corps of Engineers and financial consultants from Northbridge Environmental Co. Also participating via phone linkups were Don Smith and Felix Sablan from the CNMI Water Task Force.

In his opening comments, Cohen said that the meeting was “part of a very important effort to find solutions to the critical environmental infrastructure needs of all the insular areas.” His comments were echoed by Tenorio, who called the meeting “historic” and vital to solving “the Commonwealth’s very, very old water problems which have gone on for over 60 years, since the end of World War II.”

Cohen and McCarroll both noted that Saipan is the only American community that lacks water suitable for drinking on a reliable daily basis.

The group will submit recommendations at the next IGIA plenary session, scheduled for March 1, 2005 in Washington, D.C.

The IGIA was created under the authority of an Executive Order issued by President Bush in May 2003. (PR)