CPA approves release of sewerline money

The Commonwealth Ports Authority board has approved the release of $350,000 as payment for the additional claim made by the contractor of the controversial sewer line project for its immediate resumption of work.

Pacific Drilling Ltd. is set to resume work on the $4.7 million sewer line project which has suffered so much delay since it was suspended by the ports authority in May 1998 due to lack of funds.

Completion of the project was assured after CPA and the Commonwealth Utilities Corp. have recently agreed to co-share in paying for the cost of the total additional claim of Pacific Drilling amounting to $750,000.

Under the amended Memorandum of Agreement, CPA will pay $350,000 while CUC will shoulder $400,000. Originally, Pacific Drilling was seeking a $1.9 million claim to the project which the contractor claimed it spent in removing all the equipment when the project was suspended.

However, it was later on reduced to $1.6 million, but the ports authority was only able to validate some $352,000. To settle the problem, Pacific Drilling made a last offer amounting to $750,000.

The much-delayed sewer line project which will run from Saipan International Airport to Agingan Waste Water Treatment Plant will benefit some 1,000 households.

Completion of the controversial sewer line project will eventually benefit the nearby Dandan Homestead residents because it will pave the way for the community to make a connection to the main sewer line.

At the same time, the project will protect the island’s main aquifer which provides a major portion of the island’s public water supply, according to Carlos H. Salas, executive director. “It would have been a major disaster if the water is contaminated because it is one of the biggest source of water supply,” he said.

The Division of Environmental Quality has expressed concern on the delay in the project’s completion because it may result in chemical contamination. Samplings form nearby wells have confirmed the rise in nitrate concentrations toward maximum safe levels for human health as well as the presence of microbiological contaminants.

Under the MOA, CUC would have the responsibility of the project’s construction management and eventually its co-owner. After completion, the project will be turned over to CUC which will begin paying the ports authority some $22,000 every month.