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$2M in MPLT income eyed for Kagman road improvements
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Posted on Jan 13 2014
Rep. Lorenzo I. Deleon Guerrero (Ind-Saipan) introduced a bill seeking to use $2 million in Marianas Public Land Trust income to fix and develop Kagman roads.
Deleon Guerrero’s House Bill 18-161 amends Public Law 17-76 to allow for the advance of MPLT’s future interest income distribution for the paving and development of unpaved roads in Kagman, where over 4,200 people live based on the 2010 Census.
PL 17-76 pledged and appropriated $11.58 million from MPLT’s future interest income distributions starting in fiscal year 2014 until such time that MPLT’s loan to the Commonwealth Healthcare Corp. is fully satisfied.
Deleon Guerrero, in his bill, said although $11.8 million was pledged and appropriated, the loan agreement between MPLT and CHCC is “substantially less.”
The chairman of the House Committee on Public Utilities, Transportation and Communications said it is “reasonable” to amend the law and allow $2 million of the pledged and appropriated amount of $11.8 million “to be advanced to the Commonwealth General Fund for the purposes of paving and development of unpaved roads in Kagman.”
“This legislation will greatly benefit residents and visitors who regularly travel on worn or incomplete roads in Kagman and will further serve not only to improve road safety conditions of existing roads, but also to improve the overall quality of life,” the bill partly states.
