Legal issues snag Tinian departure terminal work

The Commonwealth Ports Authority is aggressive pushing forward the completion of the Tinian West Field International Airport departure terminal but legal issues continue to hold back the project, according to executive director Edward M. Deleon Guerrero.

In an interview, Deleon Guerrero said the agency cannot proceed with the retrofitting work on the new departure terminal since the matter is now under litigation.

CPA sued Texas-based firm Leo A. Daly Co. last year for its allegedly defective design of the Tinian airport’s departure terminal and the departure area of the Francisco C. Ada/Saipan International Airport.

Leo A. Daly Co. was the same firm contracted to design the dialysis center for the Commonwealth Health Center. The government filed a $10 million lawsuit against the firm, which settled the case for $2 million.

Deleon Guerrero described the legal issues surrounding the departure terminal project as “big” and “very complicated.”

“We need to be very careful in terms of what information needs to be put out because we want CPA to benefit from this and we want to be able to fix that building from funding that comes from people that are responsible for that,” he told Saipan Tribune.

Deleon Guerrero pointed out that the construction for the departure terminal and the issues that arose on the project happened before his term as executive director “and I am trying to rectify all the things that need to be done and hopefully we can resolve that issue soon.”

He said that at this point, CPA is now close to determining the cost of the needed retrofitting work for the departure terminal.

According to Deleon Guerrero, the agency has hired a structural engineer to make recommendations on how the retrofitting would be done after which a contractor will establish the cost for the job to be done.

“We cannot really elaborate too much because we are going into court with them and we don’t want to leak information that might compromise our case,” he said.

Recognizing that the departure terminal is critical to Tinian Mayor Dela Cruz’s plans to get more charter flights to the island, Deleon Guerrero remains optimistic that the mayor would understand the situation.

“These are problems that were created five or six years ago and now, we’re just trying to get it to the point where they can use [the departure terminal] because as long as we don’t do the retrofitting, that really will never be used.”

He added, “I sympathize with the mayor and the people of Tinian but there are legal questions that need to be addressed before we can move forward with that.”

As for the arrival terminal, Deleon Guerrero said they are poised to announce the bid for its renovation.

“We’re also pushing to address every aspect of renovation and we want to make sure that when we bid it out, that no contractor will have the chance to protest it so we can move forward with construction and get it done,” he said.

Deleon Guerrero said he has already met with the project designer and CPA is set to begin the review process for the arrival terminal project.

“Once we finish reviewing it, we can announce it out for construction,” he added.