NMHC eyes completion of Koblerville project in April

The Northern Marianas Housing Corporation is confident that all 45 home units that are now being erected in Koblerville Village will be ready for occupancy by April 2001, more than one year since construction started in late 1999.

Housing Executive Director Marylou S. Ada disclosed majority of the units have already been pre-qualified to interested families and that NMHC expects to officially award the units soon after construction work is completed in three months.

“Construction is progressing very well and we have already pre-qualified more than half of the applicants who have submitted application for the units. We have received over 50 applications but not everybody are eligible or qualified,” she pointed out.

This, even as NMHC continues to press the Legislature for $2.4 million in total appropriation to install sewer, power and water as well as road infrastructure within the housing project. The funding has been pending for months already.

Ms. Ada has pleaded to senators to immediately act on the measure that was passed by the House of Representatives. This is the same bill earlier approved by the lower house but was amended by the Senate to set aside $800,000 for various projects on Rota and Tinian.

She emphasized, however, that $1.6 million was not enough to finish the project, and the $2.4 million was the amount quoted by contractors to install the infrastructure.

Ms. Ada said NMHC have been consistently working with the applicants for the submission of the required documents that would determine whether or not they can qualify to own a unit in the Koblerville Housing Project.

She stressed that the housing corporation is right on target in terms of the project’s completion, despite a temporary delay when the Division of Fish and Wildlife previously stopped construction activities due to endangered bird species issues.

Four companies that were not chosen to undertake the $7.3 million housing project in Koblerville last year protested against the selection process made by the government-owned housing corporation.

At least 11 companies had submitted proposals to undertake the construction of the 45 housing units.

NMHC had, however, maintained that the selection process for the $7.3 million is in compliance with the procurement regulations of the government.

The housing project would also involve the construction of equally important infrastructure facilities like roads and sewerlines.

Housing units in CNMI have registered an increasing trend which reflect the increased demand for housing by a growing population and a prospering economy.

More than half of all housing units in the Northern Marianas were built between 1980 and 1995, a period of high growth in population and economic development throughout the islands.