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Nine people awarded homestead lots
Nine people were awarded Thursday homestead lots located in Kagman.
According to Ray Salas, the acting director for the homestead program, the Department of Public Lands issued last Thursday morning 19 letters to homestead applicants. Of the 19, only 12 responded to the letter. On the day of the awarding, only nine were present.
The nine people were part of the 1991 batch of applicants. According to Salas, there are 275 remaining applicants for 1991 and there are 387 remaining applicants for 1992.
Salas said that once the lots in Kagman are awarded to homestead applicants, the next area that DPL is eyeing is in As Gonno.
“We are anticipating this As Gonno subdivision, so [there is a possibility] that we would accommodate the [1992 applicants] over there,” he said, adding that there are over 350 lots in the area.
Though not yet finalized, DPL has just received the bidding package for the lots in As Gonno.
“…We are going to review it,” said Salas referring to the As Gonno bidding package and reiterating that accommodating the 387 applicants of 1992 in the As Gonno subdivision is just a possibility.
DPL requested for a request for proposal on the As Gonno area lot assignments through the Department of Public Works.
Salas hopes that by the end of the year, the 1992 batch could start receiving their lots.
With no specific date mentioned, Salas said the next drawing is tentatively scheduled for the third week of August 2017.
During a recent budget hearing with the House Ways and Means Committee, DPL Secretary Marianne Teregeyo told the committee that an engineer was essential for the homestead program to go forward.
According to Teregeyo, DPL has been relying on the engineers of DPW but they also have DPW’s needs to address and therefore could not prioritize DPL’s requests. Teregeyo told Saipan Tribune in an earlier interview that the engineers have been entertaining DPL’s requests during their own free time, further delaying the homestead program’s movement.
