‘Marines’ transfer to Tinian set for 2007’

The relocation of U.S. Marine troops from Okinawa, Japan, to Tinian has been set for January 2007, a milestone that is expected to play an important role in the CNMI’s economic recovery, with military spending on the island projected to reach $10 billion over a five-year period.

A non-profit group also plans to undertake a $20 million war museum project on Tinian, according to Dr. Thomas D. Arkle Jr., the special consultant for resource development at the Tinian Mayor’s Office.

Arkle disclosed that the relocation of some 1,000-strong 31st Marine Expeditionary Force and other military personnel from Okinawa to Tinian has been set in January next year. He was quick to add, though, that the schedule remains tentative. Projected military spending on Tinian from January 2007 to December 2012 would reach $10 billion, he said.

Arkle said the military will use the Tinian North Field for its training, which will include live-fire exercises.

The military controls some 17,799 acres of public land on Tinian, which it leased from the CNMI government. The federal government paid a total of $19.52 million for a 50-year lease of the CNMI public lands until 2028, which also covers 177 acres of public land in Tanapag Harbor on Saipan and the entire Farallon de Mendinilla, which has an approximate area of 206 acres.

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.

Currently, the U.S. and CNMI governments have been negotiating on possible amendments to the leaseback agreements to allow the use of leaseback property not only for agricultural but also commercial purposes.

Arkle’s disclosure came about over a month after Gov. Benigno R. Fitial met with U.S. Naval Forces Marianas and Navy Region Marianas commander Charles Joe Leidig to discuss the possibility of increased military presence on the islands. After the meeting, Fitial said that some of the 6,000 U.S. Marines that would be transferred from Okinawa to Guam might spill over to Tinian.

The Tinian Mayor’s Office also disclosed plans of a private non-profit group to build a war museum that will showcase World War II artifacts in the CNMI.

Arkle said the U.S. National War Museum will display artifacts that will be under the CNMI’s ownership. The display will include a full-size World War II aircraft that has been restored.

The Enola Gay fighter plane, which dropped the first atomic bomb on Hiroshima on Aug. 6, 1945, was launched from Tinian. Tinian also became the launching pad for the Little Boy fighter plane, which dropped the second atomic bomb in Nagasaki.