FAA grants $2.4-M for Saipan airport runway

The Federal Aviation Administration has allocated some $2.4 million in total grants to the Commonwealth Ports Authority for the proposed rehabilitation of the Saipan International Airport’s Phase-I runway.

The total amount, $2.374 million, has been earmarked by the FAA for the island’s air transport facility under the Airport Improvement Program, following CPA’s funding request to carry out the rehabilitation of the Saipan airport runway.

The issuance of the grant offer is subject to approval of the project as finally formulated; CPA meeting the requirements set forth under the [Airport and Airway Safety and Capacity Expansion] Act; and the limits of obligational authority for the current fiscal year.

According to FAA Western Pacific Airports District Office acting manager Daniel S. Matsumoto, use of the $2.4 million allocation is restricted to the rehabilitation of the Saipan International Runway 7/25-Phase I.

In June, CPA also received close to $200,000 for a project intended to improve and rehabilitate certain portions of the Saipan International Airport that include the conversion of existing asphalt concrete apron (ACP) to Portland cement concrete (PCC).

The conversion project will be funded 100 percent by the FAA which has already approved a total of $190,535 for the initial phase of Saipan International Airport improvement project.

The first bid proposal submitted for the project originally costs $214,707 but was scaled down to $190,535 following studies that some of the soil borings to be used can be provided from a previous geo-technical reports for the same area.

This brought the cost down by about $24,000, according to CPA staff engineer John Sablan in a report previously presented to the Board of Directors in a recent meeting.

The CPA Board of Directors has unanimously awarded the Saipan International Airport asphalt conversion project to Winzler and Kelly, which has ranked the second highest company for all three pending infrastructure projects of the ports authority.

Poised at making Northern Marianas airports at par with facilities from other countries, CPA has been crafting a long-term improvement plan for the Saipan International Airport that includes the expansion of its runway safety zone.

CPA’s efforts in drawing up plans aimed at improving the islands’ transit facilities have been prompted by problems relating to transportation which have long been identified to be major a major factor in the apparently stagnating economic activity in the CNMI.

The agency is also looking at expanding the runway of the Saipan International Airport from 8,600 feet to 10,600 feet since its current capacity restricts the facility from accommodating direct flights from the mainland United States.