Apatang urges passage of bill to fund Kagman road paving

Saipan Mayor David M. Apatang is urging lawmakers to pass a local bill that provides $465,000 for improvement projects that include road paving for Kagman.

House Local Bill 19-29, authored by Rep. Francisco S. Taimano (Ind-Saipan), seeks to appropriate $465,000 from poker fees for the construction of a Kagman baseball field and paving and drainage of Tangantangan Road and Lalangita Road in Kagman.

“[What’s] important in this undertaking is protecting the lives and property of our residents. The intent of this bill will accomplish the government’s responsibility of making sure lives and property are safeguarded from harm, damage, or loss,” Apatang said.

The Saipan Mayor’s Office is responsible for maintaining, improving, and repairing secondary roads and that includes those in Kagman.

“Paving coral surfaced roads is cost-saving in the long term,” Apatang said. “No matter how frequent we resurface secondary roads with fresh, crushed limestone material, we always have to expend more funds to perform the same job time and again. Redoing the same road two or three times a year is costly and a waste of public funds.”

He said this is a goal that “we all should be going after and accomplishing whenever funds are available for such purposes” and that this answers the countless pleas from residents for road improvements.

“We have seen it firsthand, the unsafe condition of roads in the area. …The planned road improvements, once completed, will result in less vehicle repair expenses for residents and access for emergency responders to get to and from easier and safer,” he said.

In related news, Chopak Drive in Kagman III has been paved already and residents have been utilizing the road. However, Pine Drive has yet to be paved.

Rep. Lorenzo Deleon Guerrero (Ind-Saipan) said they are still waiting on a change order from the Department of Public Works.

“We’re waiting for change order from DPW and Procurement and if that goes through and it is approved we will continue with the paving,” Deleon Guerrero said.

The change order is for a total of $58,000 to pave a portion of Pine Drive that connects to Chopak Drive and intersects with Forbidden Island Road, including a portion of Pine Drive, near Tank Beach leading into Pepega Street.

This links all the roads together, according to Deleon Guerrero. After that, two other road improvements will take place.

“I followed up on Monday [July 27] and it [change order] was at Department of Finance. The change order was turned in last week,” he said.

He said more funding is being sought and that funding should focus on roads, especially the drainage needed at Chopak.

“There is an estimate for drainage totaling $106,000 and I submitted the estimates to the Saipan and Northern Islands Legislative Delegation,” he said.