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DPL gets $550K federal grant
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Posted on Dec 05 2006
Over 400 homesteaders stand to benefit from a $550,000 federal grant that the Department of Public Lands received yesterday from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
The amount includes $350,000 for the environmental assessment and removal of unexploded ordnance scattered across the 153-acre Marpi village homestead site and $200,000 for the assessment and inventory of CNMI sites believed or known to be contaminated with petroleum.
In an interview yesterday, DPL Finance Director David Atalig said that the department has been eyeing the 62.1-hectare public property in Marpi for a homestead development. However, DPL cannot proceed with the project because of the presence of unexploded ordnance within the area.
Of the estimated four million pounds of unexploded ordnance on Saipan, about three million are believed to be located in Marpi. These munitions resulted from the Japanese occupation, the Battle for the Marianas in 1944 and the U.S. military’s stockpile of ordnance for the invasion of Japan in 1944-45, according to EPA.
Efforts were done in the 1960s to clear some of the munitions, but only 2,000 tons were collected.
Once rid of unexploded ordnance, the land east of the Far East Broadcasting Company all the way up to Suicide Cliff can be developed into a residential area with over 400 houses and facilities such as schools, parks and commercial buildings, Atalig said.
“This is the biggest homestead project we’ve identified for Saipan. We’re hopeful that Marpi can be another Kagman, that we can bring economic development to the north side,” he added.
DPL aims to start issuing homestead permits for Marpi in 2008. Currently, there are over 3,000 local residents waiting for homesteads.
The grant will also fund the assessment of at least 10 petroleum sites around the Commonwealth, including Saipan, Tinian, Rota and Pagan.
