Inos signs $2.7M funding law for Saipan projects

Gov. Eloy S. Inos signed into local law yesterday a bill appropriating more than $2.717 million in bond funds and associated interests for capital improvement projects on Saipan such as for road paving, buying school buses, hospital bed replacements and equipment purchases.

This comes five months after the governor informed Saipan lawmakers of the availability of such funds.

The governor signed House Local Bill 18-51, Draft 1 into Saipan Local Law 18-17 in the presence yesterday afternoon of Rep. Antonio Agulto (Ind-Saipan) and agencies that will benefit from the funding, including the Commonwealth Healthcare Corp., the Public School System, and Carolinian Affairs Office.

Before signing the bill, Inos gave the agencies a rundown of what the administration expects in terms of the procurement process including soliciting bids.

“These programs cannot be reprogrammed. They cannot be used for other purposes,” he told the agencies present.

Inos also said the Commonwealth Development Authority is an integral part of the process.

Of the total $2.717 million, $250,000 goes to CHC for the purchase of new beds for the hospital.

Another $250,000 goes to PSS for the purchase of two new 66-passenger school buses.

Precinct I would get $400,000 for its various capital improvement-related projects.

Precinct II, meanwhile, would get $380,000 for capital improvement and development projects.

The new local law also appropriates $450,000 for Precinct III, for the construction of a small amphitheater and related facilities at the Carolinian Utt in Garapan and for various roads and drainage projects.

Precinct IV has a $273,969 share of the funding for its various CIPs.

Precinct V, meanwhile, would get $600,000 to pave Kagman roads, among other things.

Agulto said the bill started out as an appropriation measure for Precinct V but when the governor announced the availability of $2.7 million for appropriation, the Precinct V proposal became a part of a bigger bill.

The Saipan Mayor’s Office will get $100,000 for the purchase of heavy equipment. Mayor Marian Tudela and Henry Hofschneider, along with other mayor’s officer representatives, were at the bill signing.

The governor said the mayor’s office now has half-million dollars to buy heavy equipment. The other $400,000 is from the U.S. Interior’s Office of Insular Affairs.

Saipan Southern High School would also get $50,000 for its baseball field.

The expenditure authority of the funds is the Department of Public Works secretary, Martin Sablan, who was also present at the signing ceremony.

Rep. Ray Tebuteb (Ind-Saipan), author of HLB 18-51, D1 and chairman of the Saipan and Northern Islands Legislative Delegation, said he didn’t know the bill would be up for signing yesterday but nevertheless appreciates the governor’s signing of the bill without any line-item veto.