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Funding available for Tinian and Rota port improvement
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Posted on Oct 30 2000
Vice Speaker Alejo M. Mendiola, Jr. (R-Rota) and Rep. Norman S. Palacios (R-Tinian) announced yesterday that Rota and Tinian will benefit from the two special projects inserted in the Energy and Water appropriations bill signed into law Oct. 27 by President Clinton. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will begin the first phase of work to repair and improve ports on Tinian and Rota.
“There’s no question that each of these projects is sorely needed,” said Rep. Palacios. “We asked Congress for help in advancing the needed appropriations when we were in Washington earlier this year. This is the result, which we owe to the advocacy of our friends in the House and Senate and to Speaker Ben Fitial, who led what-looking back on it-was a very successful delegation visit.”
Mendiola and Palacios announced that H.R. 4733, the Fiscal Year 2001 Energy and Water Appropriations conference report, funds U.S. Army Corps of Engineers projects to begin the first phase of work to repair and improve the ports of Tinian and Rota. “Both port facilities date from the World War II era,” Mendiola said, “and it is time that they be thoroughly rehabilitated.”
Palacios said that the Tinian port is in particularly poor shape. “We have been concerned for some time that it could be severely damaged in a major typhoon. Starting work on it is critical to Tinian’s tourist trade and to further economic development. It’s a great day for Tinian.”
In addition to the Tinian port project, the Corps of Engineers will also initiate similar first phase inspection and planning work on Rota’s East Harbor.
Both legislators agreed that the Congressional endorsement of this priority will clear the way for the inspection, assessment and planning necessary to move the projects forward. Both efforts will start in Fiscal Year 2001, which began Oct. 1, 2000.
