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Track resurfacing may start next month
One of the lanes at the Oleai Sports Complex’s track and field facility has its rubberized surface torn. (Roselyn B. Monroyo)
Northern Marianas Sports Association executive director Tony Rogolifoi said that the resurfacing work at the Oleai Sports Complex’s track and field facility may start next month.
“The tentative schedule to start the project is first week of November. NMHC has awarded the contract to Tang’s Corporation and we’re just waiting for the release of the notice to proceed,” Rogolifoi said in an interview with Saipan Tribune yesterday.
Tang’s Corp. is located in Chalan Kanoa and according to Rogolifoi, the company will bring in experts from Australia and New Zealand to ensure that the resurfacing work at the track and field facility will be done the right way and will meet the standards of the International Association of Athletics Federations.
The contractor will be working closely with the experts in the field as the facility needs to get recertified by IAAF. The Oleai track, which was built in early 2000, previously received a Level II certification from IAAF. Today, it is in a very bad shape as bubbles have formed all over the rubberized lanes and some have even blown up. The eight-lane track is also covered with dark spots, while some of the railings and fences are also damaged.
Once the repair work starts, Rogolifoi said they will close the facility so he is asking for the public’s cooperation for safety purposes and to make sure that the project will be completed on time. Tang’s Corp. has only 150 working days to finish the resurfacing work at the track and field facility.
The project costs nearly a million ($990,000) with majority of the funds coming from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. The funds were course through the Northern Marianas Housing Corp. under its Community Development Block Grant, while the Marianas Visitors Authority also chipped in for the project, allotting $250,000 for the resurfacing work as part of the latter’s sports tourism program. MVA’s share comes from its destination enhances budget.
A separate fund from the Federal Emergency Management Agency through the Capital Improvement Projects will also be used to improve the track, which the CNMI needs to upgrade as the Commonwealth prepares for the hosting of the 2012 Pacific Mini Games.
