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Projects funded by CDBG near completion
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Posted on Sep 13 2011
Four of the five projects funded through the Community Development Block Grant are approaching completion, according to planner and grant writer Jeannie P. Mafnas of the Northern Marianas Housing Corp.
These projects are the rehabilitation of the Dandan Children’s Park for $33,602; rehabilitation of Sinapalo Children’s Park on Rota, $370,950; purchase of equipment for Tinian Fire Station, $99,975; and rehabilitation of Gilbert C. Ada gymnasium, $268,000.
Only the purchase of a 500,000-gallon fuel storage tank for Commonwealth Utilities Corp. for $630,500 has been completed, said Mafnas.
Mafnas said that the projects are going on as scheduled. “It’s a process but they’re all meeting deadlines. They’re all nearly completed,” she told Saipan Tribune, adding that the projects are expected to be finished within the next few weeks.
Mafnas noted that the CDBG monies used to fund the five projects are funding from previous program years that have been approved for reprogramming for these projects.
Administered by the NMHC, the CDBG program is a flexible program that provides communities with resources to address a wide range of unique community development needs.
The program was established in 1974 and is one of the longest continuously run programs under HUD.
In other news, NMHC has been granted for program year 2010 $824,363 in CDBG funds, $40,642 under the Emergency Shelter Grant, and $570,054 for the HOME Investment Partnerships Program.
Mafnas noted that since the CDBG funding is a formula grant, it was reduced given the decrease in the CNMI population.
Meanwhile, Mafnas said that the ESG will be divided equally between the Division of Youth Services shelter and the Guma Esperansa.
