Rota, Tinian lawmakers to CPA: What about us?

Rota and Tinian lawmakers accused the Commonwealth Ports Authority yesterday of turning a deaf ear to their call for the installation of a state-of-the-art landing system at the airport in each island.

Senators Joseph M. Mendiola and Diego M. Songao, the respective chairs of the Tinian and Rota legislative delegations, asked the CPA board of directors to include the installation of “instrument landing system” at both airports in future bond considerations.

CPA is currently in the process of floating $7.2 million in revenue bonds for the concrete paving of the Saipan seaport’s container yard.

“It is very disappointing to find that, although we have been requesting assistance in the installation of [ILS], the other islands of this Commonwealth, namely Rota and Tinian, have yet to receive a similar assistance in terms of floating bonds for such development,” Mendiola and Songao told CPA in a letter. “Instead, bonds are issued, once again, to improve only Saipan facilities.”

CPA had already asked the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration for funds to install and operate ILS at the Tinian and Rota airports. But FAA denied the request, saying the project was not cost-effective, given the low passenger traffic in both islands.

In May 2005, CPA adopted a resolution urging the CNMI government to secure federal funding or use its own funds for the project. CPA suggested that the government ask the U.S. Congress to appropriate money for the program. The administration could also provide direct funding to the project or await the implementation of a “local area augmentation system”—a superior, easier-to-implement technology that is expected to be available at less cost in 2006.

In their letter, Mendiola and Songao said that many flights bypass Rota in inclement weather due to its lack of an advanced landing system.

For its part, Tinian had already put in a lot of effort toward getting ILS for their airport—from researching the availability of companies to install the ILS and researching funding sources, to pleading with the FAA to consider the project.

“Despite all this effort, CPA board of directors has continued to close its ears and eyes to our needs. Instead, we now learn in the media that CPA has the ability to float bonds to undertake such project as the paving of the Saipan seaport container yard,” they said.

They added: “While we understand that the income, revenue, and funds between the seaports and airports are statutorily segregated and that since this bond is for improvement of the Saipan seaport facilities and backed by seaport income, CPA may be unable to include our dire need for ILS at the Tinian and Rota airports. However, we urge the board of directors to take heed of our request to explore and include the expansion and the need for an ILS at our airports in further bond considerations.”