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House OKs creation of transportation office
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Posted on Aug 30 2005
The House of Representatives has approved a proposal to create a transport office that would develop a mass transportation system in the CNMI.
House members approved House Bill 14-318, which proposes a CNMI Office of Transit Authority within the Office of the Governor. The bill, authored by Rep. Clyde Norita, says that such an office would be a recipient of federal grants from the Federal Transit Administration.
Norita noted that the CNMI has been eligible for these grants but it failed to apply for them.
He said the CNMI government “could have applied for a little over $2 million from fiscal year 1994 to 2003 but it failed to do so.”
Through the proposed office, he said the government can apply for grants from FTA and use it to assess the Commonwealth’s transportation needs and develop a viable public transportation system.
The Department of Commerce said earlier that it supports such kinds of proposal. The department has drafted its own mass transport plan, which is projected to be implemented beginning next year.
Based on the department’s 2005-2010 Public Transportation Development Plan, a task force shall be created and a recommendation report on the proposed program shall be submitted to the governor and the Legislature within this year.
By February 2006, it shall apply for a grant with the Federal Transit Administration.
A gradual implementation of the program shall begin in August 2006.
The department said the goal “is to establish a public transportation system that provides for an improved mobility of our citizens and the transportation of goods and services.”
He said the agency came up with the idea in view of the Commonwealth’s anticipated growth and economic opportunities.
The public transport system shall include varied transportation options such as buses, carpools, vanpools, curb-to-curb paratransit service, and rain train or a monorail system.
Through FTA, the federal government provides financial assistance and training to local transit systems and planning organization.
Manglona said the federal grant matching requirement would be 80 percent federal funds and 20 percent state funds.
