NMHC chair wants projects completed

NMHC Chair Juan S. Tenorio urged directors of the agency to bid out funded projects so that construction could begin in earnest and hopefully trigger a recovery of the Commonwealth’s battered economy.

“Let us close the projects. If we have the funding, we should bid out the contracts and award the projects immediately. The government is relying on us to fix the economy,” he said during the monthly meeting of the NMHC board held the other day.

Mr. Tenorio said that as of the moment the NMHC is still tackling projects funded in the 1999-2000 budget. He lamented that the housing agency is already drawing out its planned projects for the 2002-2003 calendar year and yet has still to complete projects envisioned two years ago.

The NMHC chair said it is up to the agency to create opportunities and activity for the construction industry, which has been hardest hit by the slowdown of the Commonwealth economy.

He said since new construction hit a snag some years ago, 21 local construction companies had to close shop out of the original 89. Moreover, the construction companies who managed to weather the crisis had to cut down on manpower.

Mr. Tenorio also said that everytime time a construction company folds up the higher the cost of construction materials become.

“Government being the biggest source of new construction is the biggest loser when prices of materials soar. It is not only the consumer sector that is affected,” he said.

Among the pending projects of the NMHC are the domestic violence shelter, the Saipan Recreational Gym parking lot, acoustics for the multi-purpose center and the Gualo Rai Teen Center in Saipan.

The renovation of a gym and installation of lighting in a baseball field in Rota; and the Tinian Community Center in Tinian are also a few of the projects Mr. Tenorio wants completed.

The housing czar is especially concerned with the Tinian Community Center as the municipality’s mayor has approached him of its availability for the island’s fiesta on May 5.

However, construction of the community center has dragged on because of the non-payment of workers’ wages in phase one of the project. The ultimatum to the contractor lapsed in April 11 with no signs the workers have returned to the site.

A solution to the deadlock being proposed by the board is that instead of paying the contractor, NMHC should pay the workers’ wages directly. Phases two and three of the Tinian Community Center are set to be bid out, according to Mr. Tenorio.