Apatang happy with progress of Beach Road repairs, Tinian and Rota projects
Lt. Gov. David M. Apatang is glad with the progress of the ongoing Beach Road Improvement Project as well the many road improvement projects on Tinian and Rota.
“We’re looking forward to a lot of projects,” said Apatang at a press briefing on Monday, referring to many federally-funded infrastructure projects.
On Tinian, they’re almost done with the road repair improvement project with the help of the U.S. Naval Mobile Construction Battalion Seabees, he said.
On Rota, construction has already started on one section of the back road. The project was previously on hold because of quarry materials and equipment issues.
The Beach Road Improvement Project involves the resurfacing and other improvements to a significant portion of Beach Road within two years to address safety issues, traffic efficiency, stormwater diversion, roadway aesthetics, and other important elements.
Gov. Arnold I. Palacios said one of the things he and Apatang did when they came into office last January was look at the status of all these projects and what’s holding them up.
“So we pushed that and helped resolve [some issues],” Palacios said.
He said the Northern Marianas Housing Corp. has a lot of funding for infrastructure, including part of the Beach Road Improvement Project.
Other projects involve paving some of the roads on Tinian, as well as a housing project for individual homes on Rota.
Palacios said a lot of the problems that were holding up the Rota housing project were land documents and ownership, which are the same issues that the Federal Emergency Management Agency faced with its emergency homes project.
The governor said they basically called Lands and Natural Resources Secretary Sylvan Igisomar and the Division of Fish and Wildlife to help speed up the process. “That’s not to say that we are going to ignore and violate any regulatory requirements. But we need to find out how we can address it,” he said.
Palacios said the permitting agencies are pretty much moving now.
Lt. Gov. David M. Apatang, left, talks about the progress of the ongoing Beach Road Improvement Project as well as other infrastructure projects on Tinian and Rota, as Gov. Arnold I. Palacios listens during their press briefing in the governor’s conference room Monday.
-FERDIE DE LA TORRE
