The House Committee on Natural Resources rejected Tuesday a proposal to extend for 15 years the lease agreement of a telecommunications company on three properties.<\/p>\n
The Natural Resources Committee chaired by Rep. Alice Igitol (R-Saipan) voted 5-1 to reject the proposed extension contract of Pacific Telecom Inc., which does business as IT&E, for public lands in Garapan, As Gonno, and Chacha.<\/p>\n
IT&E hired a third-party appraiser for the lands and it came out with its own report on April 24, 2018. IT&E then submitted the same appraisal report to the Legislature.<\/p>\n
The contract IT&E previously proposed did not include the results of the third-party appraisal, whose appraisal was a lot higher than the appraisal report in 2015, upon which the IT&E contract is based on.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe new appraisal\u2026[should] be included in the extension contract,\u201d said Igitol in an interview just after rejecting the extension contract.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are going to go back and renegotiate so that the new appraisal would be included.\u201d<\/p>\n
According to documents shared with Saipan Tribune, the appraisal report posed significant increases in land value compared to figures in 2015. <\/p>\n
The Chacha lot appraisal saw a $62,000-increase from $75,000, and was appraised at $137,000 in 2018. The As Gonno lot saw a $57,000-increase from the 2016 appraisal of $105,000, appraised at $162,000 in 2018, while the Garapan lot saw a $22,000-increase over a 2015 appraisal of $184,000, this time appraised at $206,000 in 2018.<\/p>\n
Igitol said negotiations for extension of public land lease with IT&E should now use the 2018 third-party appraisal report.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is an increase in lease rental,\u201d said Igitol, noting a report of the Legislature\u2019s fiscal analyst indicating at least 43-percent increase and up to 85-percent increase on lease rental compared to the Department of Public Lands and IT&E proposal for extension.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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