Draft of working plan proposal for $20M MPLT line of credit done

Gov. Arnold I. Palacios disclosed yesterday that they already have a draft of a working plan proposal in connection with his request for the Marianas Public Land Trust to consider extending a $20-million line of credit for severally funded capital improvement or infrastructure projects in order to get these projects going and collect revenues. 

Palacios at a press briefing said they had a short meeting last Friday with the Department of Finance, Capital Improvement Projects Office, Office of Planning and Development, and MPLT to go through MPLT’s requests. 

“Pretty much we have a draft. We pretty much have all those things already set up,” said the governor, adding that he should be given a copy of the draft to review.

He said he believes when they were finished with the meeting, they understood where they needed to be. 

Palacios said Liz  Balajadia, who heads the Office of Planning and Development where a lot of these U.S. Economic Development Administration funds are, is leading a group that works on the plan proposal, along with Finance Secretary Tracy B. Norita, and folks from the Office of  Management and Budget.

Before it can extend the $20-million line of credit to the CNMI government, MPLT recently informed Palacios that it wants to see first, among other things, a letter from the EDA certifying that the CNMI is currently in compliance with EDA grant terms.

MPLT board of trustees chair Phillip Mendiola-Long said that they want to see a working plan proposal that will help them understand the request for line of credit, specifically the timeline of the proposed projects.

Last July 17, Palacios asked MPLT for a $20 million revolving line of credit  for reimbursable federally funded grants for Capital Improvement Projects administered by the EDA.

Marianas Public Land Trust office on Capital Hill.