MVA, DLNR to solve tourist site jurisdiction issue

The Marianas Visitors Authority and the Department of Land and Natural Resources will soon settle the long-standing dispute about who really holds jurisdiction of the upkeep of Marpi tourist sites.

In an interview with MVA managing director Chris Concepcion, he shared that the long ongoing dispute between them and DLNR about who is in charge of upkeep and maintenance when it comes to Marpi tourist sites.

Concepcion shared that MVA and DLNR have already received a draft of a Memorandum of Agreement from the Attorney General’s Office regarding this matter.

“There is a draft that we have received from the AGO. Essentially the MOA will be between the MVA and DLNR. We’re reviewing it and are in the process of tweaking it,” he said.

Concepcion said DLNR secretary Sylvan Igisomar has shown his support for the MOA which essentially establishes that DLNR holds legal jurisdiction over the sites and MVA will aid in the upkeep and maintenance.

“We’ve shared the draft with DLNR secretary and he’s in full support of having this type of cooperative arrangement where we can come in with our expertise and support and because they have legal jurisdiction over the site, we’re going to have to go through them.That is ongoing, nothing has been signed yet, it’s still under review,” he said.

For this fiscal year, MVA has already allocated a portion of its over $4-million budget to helping DLNR in maintaining tourist sites in Marpi.

“Some of our budget includes support to government agencies who will be maintaining the sites now. We have historically, and will continue, to provide funding for fuel and supplies for Parks and Recreation who maintain the sites in Marpi,” he said,” he said.

In related news, Concepcion recently shared that the Economic Development Administration has awarded MVA $1.4 million to renovate and enhance the CNMI’s most popular tourist sites.

“We [got] a $1.4-million grant from the Economic Development Administration, which we are going to use to fund the renovation of Bird Island—a complete renovation [that] includes brand new railings, brand new stairs, a lookout deck, and paved organized parking,” he said. “We’re [also] going to re-design and re-develop Suicide Cliff and we’re going to build a brand-new restroom at the Last Command Post. Although there is a restroom there now, it is not in service, and it has been vandalized and destroyed after someone broke in there and smashed the toilets.” He added.

Concepcion said the grant will predominately be used to build a new and larger restroom at the Last Command Post that will serve as the main restroom in Marpi.

Concepcion explained that it would cost more to maintain the existing restrooms in Marpi as they have been vandalized several times.

In addition, Concepcion said that MVA is working with the Office of Grants Management on their project to renovate Banzai Cliff.