SMO collected 616 junk cars since 2023

The Saipan Mayor’s Office has collected 616 junk cars since 2023, according to SMO Operations director Jojo Attao.

Attao said they started collecting junk cars in February or March of last year and since then they have established a system.

“When we started, we were just going to different places, picking up junk cars. Now we have a system, we go to this village we remove the junk cars, we move to the next village, we remove those junk cars,” he said.

He also explained the process of removing junk cars wherein an affidavit has to be filled out.

“We’ll ask the owners if they still want the car, and if not, they got to fill out an affidavit plus a request form for us to remove. The affidavit assures us that we won’t get sued, or you know, something like that because the person might be off-island…now if they want (for it to be removed), they have to sign the affidavit assuring us that we’re not going to be liable for that.”

He added that they coordinate with the CNMI Zoning Board because the agency is in charge of tagging the junk cars and SMO then picks them up.

“You know some cars have been tagged in As Matuis, but since we decided to start going from village to village, that’s when we start removing junk cars. We also have a call from Kagman and I told them to be patient because we’ll get there eventually. It’s just taking us a little time,” said Attao.

The Operations Division of the Saipan Mayor’s Office is working on the vision of Saipan Mayor Ramon B. “RB” Camacho of a safe community, a clean island, and clean villages. Attao’s department is in charge of not only removing junk cars, but also home junk. The home junk referred to are broken ice boxes, broken laundry machines, refrigerators, metal, etc.

“We started in Chalan Kanoa, and then we moved to Susupe, San Antonio, Afetnas, Kobblerville, As Gonno, Dandan (upper and lower), and now we are in San Vicente. So, when you say cleanup, we go around knocking on everybody’s houses, and then let them know that we are from the mayor’s office, and we’re here to pick up whatever you don’t want in your area.”

Upon the removal of the junk either the car or home, it will be dumped down the Marpi landfill or at the transfer station, but if metals are recovered, Operations brings it to the recycling center.

Attao also said when asked what village has the most junk cars, “Some villages are smaller, which used to have auto shops, so when you have auto shops, there’s a lot of junk cars…So, I really can’t base on that. I cannot compare Susupe because that’s a big village. But there are a lot of junk cars in Susupe, but I don’t have the breakdown for you because I don’t want people to think that it’s the dirtiest village because it is not right, so percentage wise I think they’re pretty much even. San Vicente has the least right now.”

He said there is no limitation of junk cars that they can remove although for now they have to skip the auto shops.

“But if it’s an auto shop, we skip it for now until we get to the bottom of it, who owns the car, etc., you know because even though it’s an abandoned shop, you probably own a car in that abandoned shop, and you know, you need it, but nobody else is going to work on it, so we are trying to find ways to make sure that nobody owns those cars anymore,” said Attao.

Dealing with abandoned auto shops is a hard task, according to Attao, because of the landowner’s liability on the abandoned auto shop.

“There’s an abandoned shop and the car has been left there, the owner (auto shop) can actually sell those cars, but then he can have it removed. But he needs to have an affidavit in order for us to pick it up. Even if you have a car in that shop (abandoned), and then the owner of the land comes and starts claiming, you’re probably going to want your car back, especially if it just needed a new radiator. So, we want the owner (land) to write an affidavit and the land owner has to contact you to make sure that you don’t want the vehicle anymore,” said Attao.

Another challenge SMO’s Operations usually encounters had to do with location, specifically how their equipment can get in because some of the Commonwealth Utilities Corp. wires are so low it hinders their boom trucks from having access.

“That’s why we have to ask customers if they can pull it out or if they can get it through. Some do with help from SMO Operations by us putting a chain around [the junk cars] and pulling them out.”

Meanwhile, for the home junk, Attao is requesting that everyone be patient, as they are doing their best to get to all the villages and it normally takes them a month or a month and a half to clean a certain village. He also added that they have to wait for residents to come home so they themselves can take their junk out and segregate them.

A refrigerator considered as home junk is being removed by Saipan Mayor’s Office boom truck in San Vicente.

A junk car in As Gonno is being removed by Saipan Mayor’s Office staff using a boom truck.