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NMI Homestead Program
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Posted on Jan 10 2001
The Issue: The Division of Public Lands says there are more than 3,000 homestead applicants.
Our View: The size of Marianas land remains the same while the need for more of it skyrockets.
Like our finite water resource, land would become a scarcity in a short while. The number of applicants for residential lots has increased in recent years while the number of available land remains the same.
The days of living in apartments and affordable condominiums isn’t far from today. It’s likely that what’s left of public land would deplete before the end of the first quarter of this century. This is reality and we need to prepare for it.
It means that the utilization of land would have to begin vertically. In other words, in order to accommodate homestead applicants, the housing program would have to seriously consider building upwards. Sooner than later, we won’t have anymore land to develop laterally.
Yes, there are public lands under lease by golf-resorts throughout the business center. Someday, we would have to deal with their final disposition: turn it into residential areas or continue the lease. This issue would be thorny as it would pit the needs of new families versus that of the economic future of these isles.
It would be a tough issue down the stretch unless both sides come to the negotiating table with an open mind to forge a win-win situation. A sense of civility would be needed to resolve the needs of both sides. It requires careful treading so that it doesn’t explode into an unnecessarily nasty situation.
We’re optimistic though that with purpose and greater vision, this and other qualitative issues could be resolved in the most amicable manner. We hope too that by then we would have fully-rounded leadership capable of reasoning their way through thick and thin. Si Yuus Maase`!
