{"id":308903,"date":"2019-09-27T06:06:51","date_gmt":"2019-09-26T20:06:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/?p=308903"},"modified":"2019-09-27T06:06:51","modified_gmt":"2019-09-26T20:06:51","slug":"oleai-repair-to-push-through","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/oleai-repair-to-push-through\/","title":{"rendered":"Oleai repair to push through"},"content":{"rendered":"
The dilapidated windows at the Gilbert C. Ada Gymnasium are awaiting repairs after sustaining significant damage from Super Typhoon Yutu last year. (Kimberly A. Bautista)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Despite the impending closure of the Oleai Sports Complex, the facility will still undergo repairs.<\/p>\n

The Federal Emergency Management Agency has assured the Northern Marianas Sports Association that they will give the go-ahead for the renovation of the Oleai Sports Complex in time for the CNMI\u2019s hosting of the 2021 Pacific Mini Games. <\/p>\n

According to NMSA executive director Tony Rogolifoi, FEMA officials will issue a notice to proceed for the project to fix the dilapidated sports complex that will be the main hub for the quadrennial event.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs for the timeline, we don\u2019t know yet, but they are definitely going to come in and do the restoration of the facilities at the complex to prep for the 2021 Pacific Mini Games. Because we sustained damage from two storms and we have not started the restoration work because of the insurance situation with FEMA, they want to make sure that everything is in place before they issue the notice to proceed,\u201d Rogolifoi said. <\/p>\n

The NMSA executive director added that funding is there and has already been reserved for the project. Currently, NMSA is just waiting for FEMA\u2019s green light so the association can issue a request for proposals. <\/p>\n

Who will oversee the repair work?<\/strong>
\nDespite the inkling of good news from FEMA, Rogolifoi said worries remain about whether NMSA will even be overseeing the renovation and overall maintenance of the facility next year. <\/p>\n

NMSA did not receive allocation from the budget approved for fiscal year 2019-2020 yesterday, leaving the association with less than $50,000 to manage the facility and pay its staff.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe governor is going to fund the 2021 Mini Games, that\u2019s OK, but my worry is the preparation of the facilities, especially with FEMA coming in,\u201d Rogolifoi said. <\/p>\n

The NMSA official said they could still run the facilities for free for a month or so with assurance that a new funding source will be sought out for the maintenance of the facility. <\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s my recommendation, to run it for free temporarily, until we can find some money and that\u2019s what they\u2019re doing up there, they\u2019re trying to identify funding to run at least one more year just so we can prepare the facilities and get it ready for the 2021 Pacific Mini Games, \u201c Rogolifoi said. <\/p>\n

The CNMI Sports Hall of Famer added that if the renovation process begins next year, the facility may be available before 2021. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re still waiting, so hopefully we can start something sooner than later because we\u2019ve been telling them (FEMA) that we need the facilities restored back to standard because of the 2021 Games. We\u2019re running out of time, if they start maybe by next year, the facilities should be done and ready before the 2021 Games,\u201d Rogolifoi said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Despite the impending closure of the Oleai Sports Complex, the facility will still undergo repairs….<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":308905,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-308903","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/308903","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=308903"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/308903\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/308905"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=308903"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=308903"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=308903"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}