NMI to present plans for Tinian land

The CNMI negotiating panel is set to present a land use plan for the Tinian leaseback properties when it meets with U.S. Navy officials on Tuesday.

Sen. Joseph M. Mendiola, who is part of the five-member team negotiating the terms and conditions of the leaseback agreement, said the government would try to get the largest possible area returned by the military to the Tinian government.

“One of the military’s conditions is for us to identify the sites we need to use and justify how we’re going to use it. That’s what we’re going to do on Tuesday,” said Mendiola.

He said the government has various plans for the properties, which are currently under a 50-year lease by the military. These include the construction of a hotel resort, a golf course, a wastewater treatment facility, and a landfill.

“These projects are very important to the economic development of Tinian,” Mendiola said.

Tuesday’s meeting will be the third between the CNMI panel and the U.S. Navy, he added.

“We’re targeting to reach an agreement within 90 days from our second meeting, which was held a week or two before Christmas,” he said.

The CNMI is seeking an extension to the Tinian leaseback agreement, whose initial 10-year term expired last Aug. 8.

Aside from the extension, the government also wants to amend some of the terms and conditions of the 1994 agreement to include other uses within the leaseback property.

Under the 1994 agreement, the CNMI government is allowed to use the leaseback properties for agricultural and grazing purposes only. However, the government now wants to use the property for commercial and other activities.

A provision in the CNMI’s Covenant with the United States allowed the U.S. military to lease 17,799 acres of land and waters on Tinian, 177 acres in Tanapag Harbor on Saipan, and the entire Farallon de Mendinilla, which has an approximate area of 206 acres.

The federal government paid a total of $19.52 million for a 50-year lease on the CNMI public lands. The lease will be effective until 2028.

In 1994, the Commonwealth and the U.S. Department of Defense signed a leaseback agreement so the Tinian government could use a portion of the public lands leased to the military.

The leaseback agreement has since been amended, leaving only about 5,800 acres of land located in the middle of the Tinian covered by the agreement.