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MPLT lukewarm to OPA offer of building
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Posted on Jul 23 2008
The Marianas Public Land Trust, which is planning to construct a new office building on private land, appears lukewarm to an offer of a free and unlimited use of a government property as headquarters for its operations.
MPLT chair Alvaro Santos met with now-former Public Auditor Michael Sablan on Tuesday to discuss the Office of the Public Auditor’s proposal for MPLT to use a recently vacated OPA building, instead of buying land and constructing a new building.
According to Sablan, Santos during the meeting raised a concern about the process of assigning government buildings for long-term use. Sablan said that Santos wanted assurance that the agency would be able to own the property, since MPLT “might be investing some money” in renovating it.
Santos confirmed that concern in an e-mail to the Saipan Tribune, citing “an unanswered question as to which entity has the ultimate authority to assign and or transfer government buildings for unlimited use.”
The meeting ended with OPA being tasked to consult with the Office of Personnel Management and Department of Public Lands on the matter.
Sablan, who stepped down from office on Tuesday, said that OPA’s offer still stands. “We are willing to transfer the property at no cost to MPLT. I believe that the risk of their losing their investment is minor, compared to the cost of purchasing property and undertaking construction. The OPA building we’re offering is not luxurious, but it’s quite decent. Our main interest in this is the amount of public funds that can be saved,” he said.
MPLT’s plan has sparked public controversy because of its tentative cost of approximately $700,000 and its proposed location on private land.
Sablan added that, while Santos’ concern is reasonable, but not insurmountable. He noted that many other agencies have been able to operate from government buildings for many years, or in some cases, for decades. “Security of ownership has not been a real issue for those agencies,” he said.
The OPA building being offered to MPLT is located on Yap drive, just east of OPA’s administrative building and near MPLT’s current location at the Northern Mariana Islands Retirement Fund building.
