By Mar-Vic Cagurangan
Variety News Staff

VISITING CNMI Rep. Absalon Waki Jr., Covenant-Saipan, said the CNMI government is looking at Guam’s abandoned vehicle and scrap metal disposal program as a model for a similar initiative in the commonwealth.
“We don’t have much abandoned vehicles on Saipan as Guam. But right now, discarded scrap metal is becoming a serious problem and we don’t want to wait before it’s too late to address this matter. We’re trying to keep our island as pristine as possible,” Waki said in an interview with Variety during his visit to Guam last week.
The governor’s office said the program has been “a phenomenal success in solving Guam’s decades-old problem.” It has reported that more than 8,200 abandoned vehicles and thousands of pounds of white goods, tires and batteries have been removed from Guam streets and neighborhoods since the program was launched last year. About 2,000 of these vehicles were shipped off island in March of last year.
The Camacho administration’s abandoned vehicles program is a public-private partnership which was initiated to remove abandoned vehicles on island. Bali Steel is one of the government’s private sector partners.
Last week, Waki visited Bali Steel’s scrap metal processing site in Polaris Point.
“I wanted to learn about Bali Steel’s operation and how effective it is. I want to see the process that they use in breaking down metal,” Waki told Variety.
“I want to see how the system and the program will benefit the CNMI or how it can be done on Saipan in the next few months,” said Waki, chairman of the CNMI House federal affairs and foreign relations committee.
David Louie Belle, Bali Steel’s vice president for strategic planning and public policy, said Guam’s abandoned vehicles program is starting to expand throughout Micronesia.
“The most important thing is that Governor Camacho has started a very vigorous regional strategy,” Belle said.
The program was part of a policy initiative conceptualized by the Micronesian Chief Executives Council a couple of years ago. “Now, it is actually operational on Guam,” Belle said.
“We will continue to work with the Micronesian governments in a collaborative way in order to create the same project in Palau, Yap and as far as we can take this whole regional process,” he added.