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Tinian mayor seeks USDA loan for two projects
Tinian Mayor Joey P. San Nicolas recently met with Joseph Diego from the U.S. Department of Agriculture in Guam to discuss the possibility of the municipality applying for a $4.5-million loan to finance the building of the new Tinian Mayor’s Office and the pavement of the roads at Marpo Heights 2.
“The roads at Marpo Heights 2 are secondary roads that do not qualify for federal highway funding. We are exploring all options to address the needs of the residents of Marpo Heights 2 who bear the burden of having to drive on these roads that become really hazardous during the rainy season,” said San Nicolas.
In his discussion with USDA, San Nicolas discussed the possibility of a long-term loan.
“If a long-term repayment option is allowed, which USDA has indicated is possible, I think that the municipality would be able to service the loan given our current resources and deliver to our community improvements to our infrastructure.”
“One of my commitments as mayor is to finally build a new permanent home for the Mayor’s Office on public land. Our municipality will benefit from this investment because there will be savings realized from not having to spend our limited resources on property rental. TCGCC is already realizing that benefit by moving to its new [office].”
San Nicolas recently met with the Tinian Legislative Delegation to discuss the USDA loan. “The Tinian delegation would need to draft legislation authorizing the municipality to enter into an agreement with USDA, similar to the authorization we received to loan from MPLT to pay [the U.S. Geology Service]. We have met and all agree that the Marpo Heights 2 roads and the building of a new Mayor’s Office building is a priority project. The delegation is in support of having further discussions with USDA as to what the requirements are and want to move these two projects forward as soon as possible,” San Nicolas said.
The Tinian delegation and the mayor are scheduled to have a meeting mid-December with USDA to discuss the loan application requirements and to discuss the particulars required by the USDA in the legislations authorizing the loan.
