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$900K shortfall for Tinian, Rota harbor studies
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Posted on Feb 04 2005
The Commonwealth Ports Authority is facing a $900,000 shortfall in funding for the Tinian and Rota harbor feasibility studies, after the U.S. Department of the Interior declined the use of capital improvement project funds for the plan.
CPA executive director Carlos Salas said the studies to be done by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers have a combined cost of $2.6 million, with $1.2 million budgeted for the Tinian Harbor breakwater and the other $1.4 million for the Rota West Harbor.
The Army Corps has committed to funding 50 percent, or $1.3 million of the combined cost. The agency is also waiving $200,000 of CPA’s matching share for each harbor, reducing the ports authority’s share to $900,000.
Salas said the Tinian and Rota legislative delegations have already expressed intent to allocate local CIP funds for the project.
However, the U.S. Interior’s Office of Insular Affairs had declined the plan.
“It has been the policy of our 702 CIP program to only grant approval where funding has been identified and is sufficient to complete a project. This would include both the design and construction aspects of a project. OIA has not approved the use of 702 CIP funds for stand alone feasibility studies,” OIA grants manager Jonathan Dunn explained in a letter to CPA.
In response, Salas said he was “extremely disappointed” with the federal government’s decision.
“These studies are so crucial to improving both harbors as these facilities were obviously neglected from maintenance by previous administrators,” he said. “[These] studies are now warranted by the U.S. Army Corps because of extremely deteriorating conditions and the serious need of repairs and rehabilitation. The U.S. Army Corp of Engineers’ studies, in the absence of other options, [are] a unique opportunity in this regard.”
Salas said the project was conceptualized in 2001, but has not materialized due to lack of funding.
Once completed, the studies would be presented to the U.S. Congress to support a funding request for the architectural and engineering design, and construction phases of the project.
