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CDA favors infra-ready site for Plumeria project
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Posted on Oct 06 2005
To ensure its speedy implementation, Commonwealth Development Authority board chair Tom Glenn Quitugua is recommending the use of an infrastructure-ready site for the government’s Plumeria housing project.
“It will save us a lot of time if we choose a site that has water and sewer connection already set up and has a road system,” said Quitugua in a recent interview.
He did not identify a specific site but sources said that the chairman raised during a recent meeting at the Northern Marianas Housing Corp. the possible use of the MIHA housing in Garapan for the Plumeria project.
Currently, the Garapan site has dilapidated and unoccupied housing units.
Quitugua said that 128 applications for the Plumeria project are now under review for a pre-qualification process.
The Plumeria Estates project involves the construction of new houses for local residents. The initial plan identified a 13-hectare site in Koblerville, but this location still requires utility and roadways infrastructure.
Recently, the Housing Task Force said it is eyeing 702 capital improvement funds for the infrastructure project.
Task Force chair and Public Works Secretary John S. Reyes said that the government aims to tap the CIP funds for years 2007 and 2008 for the utility and roadways infrastructure of Plumeria Estates.
To achieve this, the task force is working, a repayment tool for a proposed $5.7 million “bridge” loan with the Marianas Public Lands Trust.
Earlier, the Babauta administration proposed to the Commonwealth Utilities Corp. that it borrow the needed money to finance the infrastructure project. Under this plan, $2.2 million of the loan will go to CUC for the construction of sewer lines, water lines, and power lines. The repayment shall be guaranteed from the utility charges of the estates’ 128 households.
The other $3.3 million will be used for the roads and drainage construction and will be repaid by the Governor’s Office.
Meantime, Reyes said that the awarding of project contract will be held off until the funding for the infrastructure is secured. (Liberty Dones)
