Bid out for renovation of Tinian facilities

Tinian Mayor Joey P. San Nicolas issued an invitation to bid last Friday for the renovation of facilities on the island that cater to the community’s needs.

Three existing public facilities in San Jose—the Tinian Farmers Market, Tinian Youth Center, and the Tinian Little League Baseball facility—need to be renovated and San Nicolas said this will benefit the public and improve the look of the facilities and the island of Tinian.

“These are preexisting facilities that are in need of repair. We will be doing facelifts on the inside and outside of the facilities [former Finance building and Youth Center]. As for fields, we will fix the fencing and dugouts of the little league field at the subdivision and big league field in the village,” San Nicolas said.

He said the Tinian leadership feels that the youth deserve to have improved facilities for their physical and sports activities.

“We envision using our little and big league fields for future local, regional, and international tournaments. We have already spoken to Department of Public Works Secretary James Ada who is the president of CNMI Little League. He assures us that he will work closely with us to help bring these tournaments to Tinian,” San Nicolas said.

The Youth Center will be repainted, doors and other fixtures will be replaced, and the restroom will be renovated.

Also included in the project is the repair of the former Finance building for a future Farmer’s Market.

“Tinian is known for its rich agriculture and fishing heritage. We would like to revitalize the agriculture industry so that our farmers, ranchers, and fishermen can take advantage of the economic growth Tinian will experience in the years to come,” San Nicolas said.

After the bidding process is done, the project will be completed in 240 days. Majority of the funds will come from Capital Improvement Project bond interest funds that were appropriated by the Tinian Legislative Delegation. A portion will come from the maintenance fund through the CIP Office.

Cooperating agencies are the CIP Office, headed by Office of Management and Budget special assistant Virginia Villagomez, and Commonwealth Development Authority executive director Manny Sablan.

“I want to thank the Tinian leadership, CIP Office, and the Governor’s Office for their support of Tinian’s projects,” San Nicolas said.

Rep. Edwin P. Aldan (Ind-Tinian) said he has spent many years sponsoring and volunteering as a coach for Tinian youth leagues and this renovation work is an opportune time.

Tinian Delegation chair Sen. Francisco M. Borja (Ind-Tinian) said they are pleased “to be a part of the progress on Tinian. This year alone we finished the construction at the Tinian Health Center. There is ongoing construction at Tinian Department of Public Safety, and we had a groundbreaking at the Tinian International Airport last Friday.”