{"id":343990,"date":"2021-05-11T06:05:26","date_gmt":"2021-05-10T20:05:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/?p=343990"},"modified":"2021-05-11T06:05:26","modified_gmt":"2021-05-10T20:05:26","slug":"getting-more-construction-workers-not-a-want-but-a-need","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/getting-more-construction-workers-not-a-want-but-a-need\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Getting more construction workers not a want but a need\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"
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File photo shows construction workers of Junson\u00a0Construction Mongolia undergoing a project briefing at the construction\u00a0site inside the Imperial Pacific Resort and Casino in Garapan. (CONTRIBUTED PHOTO)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not a want; it\u2019s a need.\u201d<\/p>\n

That\u2019s how Gov. Ralph DLG Torres describes the CNMI\u2019s dire need for more construction workers, citing the several million dollars\u2019 worth of projects that are in the pipeline in the CNMI.<\/p>\n

This is where Torres hopes Delegate Gregorio Kilili C. Sablan (Ind-MP) can come in\u2014by working in the U.S. Congress to increase the number of foreign construction workers that will be allowed into the CNMI.<\/p>\n

Speaking at a radio news briefing last Friday, Torres noted that, for Tinian Divert Airfield project alone, the CNMI will need 2,000-plus construction workers. Yet the law that Congress just passed relating to construction workers in the CNMI only bumped up the number by 3,000. This means that, for the Tinian Divert Airfield project alone, 2,000 worker slots would already be gone, Torres said. This, he said, underscores the importance of getting more construction workers to complete the projects that are lined up.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have a lot of projects. I mean, I can go down the line on what comes to my mind,\u201d he said. For one, the Northern Marianas College has a $100-million project to rebuild its As Terlaje campus. Also, the Public School System altogether at this moment has projects that are roughly worth $230 million. Torres said the Bird Island road project has three phases, with each phase worth roughly close to $13 million, for a total of $36 million. He said the Beach Road project should be starting soon and that\u2019s at least $4 million to $5 million. The governor said the Airport Road project should start very soon and that\u2019s at least a couple of million dollars. Torres pointed out that those are projects on Saipan alone. The mayor\u2019s offices on Tinian and Rota also have projects of their own.<\/p>\n

There is also the Federal Emergency Management Agency\u2019s housing program on Saipan and Tinian that continues to roll out, whether it\u2019s renovation or complete homebuilding.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou know how it is important these construction workers are,\u201d the governor added.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cIt\u2019s not a want; it\u2019s a need.\u201d That\u2019s how Gov. Ralph DLG Torres describes the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":343991,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[900],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-343990","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/343990","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\/23"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=343990"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/343990\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/343991"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=343990"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=343990"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=343990"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}