Consultant: Report on Kalabera Cave parking space misleading

Herman B. Cabrera, project consultant for the Kalabera Cave development initiative, has denied having issued any statement that a parking space for tour buses, vans, and cars would be 8,000 square meters of public lands.

During a public hearing for the project on Dec. 31 at the Gregorio T. Camacho Elementary School in San Roque, Cabrera said the recent newspaper report (not in the Saipan Tribune) is totally misleading.

The proposed parking space would accommodate only 14 cars at the same time while a bus parking area would accommodate only four.

A proposed pathway or nature’s trail-way will be incorporated from the parking space to the main entrance to the cave, which is estimated 250 feet long.

Cabrera said they want the project to be as natural as possible, including the landscaping.

He said the least invasive construction and installation methods would be practiced for maximum preservation of the natural and historical state of the area.

The proposed project is located at an undeveloped area near the northeastern coast of Saipan, approximately a mile south of the Bird Island overlook.

The current site location is on a public land, within the Marpi Commonwealth Forest and contains valuable historical, cultural and archeological material.

The site is between the unimproved Kingfisher Route (Route 36) and the near vertical cliff where the actual cave is located.

The entrance road is approximately 500 feet long that connects the main road to the cave.

The access road slopes gently upward towards the cave.

Although, construction of parking spaces would be done, the reported 8,000 square meters would be too much.

Other facilities to be constructed would be gift shop and snack bar, restroom and handicap access, perimeter lighting, a resting house, Japanese house prayer, pictograph and petroglyph interpretive, and others.

The purpose is to preserve the geological aspect of the cave.

Cabrera said they have visited the area two months ago and found a lot of graffiti.

“We’re losing our culture. If we don’t restore, we can’t preserve the culture. That’s why we are working with people with different professions. We don’t want to build a modern building but we want to make the area as pristine as possible,” Cabrera said.