Governor creates new office for public transportation

Gov. Benigno R. Fitial established last week a new office within the Office of the Governor to develop a viable public transportation system as mandated by a law he signed in May—a move which will also result in the abolition of the Office of Disability Policy and Programs by Oct. 1.

The CNMI does not have a comprehensive accessible transportation system.

Fitial appointed Thomas J. Camacho, special assistant for disability policy and programs, as his first special assistant for public transportation to administer the new Commonwealth Office of Public Transit Authority.

Rep. Ray Yumul (R-Saipan) said the new office does not need funding because Camacho is already wearing another hat as special assistant for disability programs.

“The administration already takes somewhere around 8 percent for administering certain grants. Also, in his testimony to us, Tom [Camacho] told us that the office can be operated to oversee mass transit with just two persons similar to that of Guam,” Yumul said when asked for comment yesterday.

Yumul is the author of House Bill 17-43, which Fitial signed into Public Law 17-43 in May. This law created a new CNMI Office of Transit Authority within the Office of the Governor.

Grants from the Federal Transit Authority are also eyed to assist the CNMI, as well as other states and territories, in developing or enhancing their transportation systems.

Fitial said the new Commonwealth Office of Transit Authority is charged with establishing and overseeing a transportation system in the CNMI, and assessing the Commonwealth’s transportation needs and developing a viable public transportation system.

He said the new office is also the designated CNMI agency to review, apply, receive, manage and use federal grants from the Federal Transportation Administration.

In an Aug. 11 memo, a copy of which was obtained yesterday, Fitial appointed Camacho to administer the new office.

Fitial said for a smooth transition from the Office of Disability Policy and Programs to his new post within the Commonwealth Office of Transit Authority, Camacho will continue to provide disability-related functions until Sept. 30, 2011.

“Thereafter, ODDP shall cease to exist,” Fitial said.

Yumul, in his bill, said that ferry and shipping services between Rota, Tinian, and Saipan could also benefit from grants that the new public transit office could apply for and implement.

He also said the skyrocketing cost of gasoline prices has taken its toll on consumers.

Yumul added that the existence of illegal tax services only reinforces the CNMI’s dire need for cheap and wide-reaching public transportation system.