By Moneth G. Deposa
Variety News Staff

NORTHERN Marianas College wants to enter into a $250,000 loan agreement with a commercial bank to finance the renovation of its dilapidated buildings on campus which were among the concerns raised by the visiting accreditation team in October.
Acting NMC President Danny Wyatt recently approached lawmakers and sought their permission to negotiate with a banking institution, according to Vice Speaker Justo S. Quitugua yesterday.
NMC wants to borrow from the Bank of Guam, he added.
Quitugua said House members are likely to pass the enabling legislation.
“The bill will be supported by the House because NMC made its intention clear — the college will repay the loan from its tuition and other revenues….they assured us that repayment will not come from the appropriations they are receiving every year from the Legislature,” Quitugua said.
He said the draft bill provided by NMC is now being reviewed by the House legal counsel.
NMC used to receive $8 million in local appropriations yearly. This fiscal year, its budget was cut to $6.1 million owing to the austerity measures implemented by the administration.
According to Wyatt, the college needs $250,000 to repair its old buildings.
“For instance, Building Q on the hill is currently condemned and unusable, as is Building M which is the building by the driveway (near) the Student Center,” he said in an e-mail.
He said upon completion of the renovations, Building Q is expected to be used for office space and two classrooms.
Building M, he said, will be used by the Instructional Learning Center for assisting faculty in developing computer skills needed in classroom instruction.
In addition, the roof to Building S, which houses the federally funded Talent Search Program, needs to be repaired, Wyatt said.
He said further repairs will be made to Building R, located furthest north on campus and which houses the art classroom.
Some of the walls and window frames are termite-damaged and need to be repaired, Wyatt said.
Building L, which was damaged by a typhoon will also be repaired, but the college needs to provide 10 percent matching funds.
“This will help reduce overcrowding in the finance office were procurement has been housed since Building L was damaged. With the college’s movement out of the Fina Sisu housing area, it has made the upper campus quite crowded and building repairs will help alleviate some of the overcrowding conditions,” Wyatt said.