(Press Release) — “All patience is not in vain and not lost,” quipped Ana Demapan Castro, chairwoman of the Saipan & Northern Islands Municipal Council.
She shares her excitement, along with her predecessor, immediate past chairwoman and now colleague, Vice Chairwoman Antonia Manibusan Tudela, the good news that the long awaited Saipan and Northern Islands Municipal Council Building project is nearing completion.
They will break ground soon the building’s the original location in Chalan Kanoa next to the U.S. Post Office.
“About 98% of the project (pre-construction) is done in terms of addressing the Section 106 environmental and historical review, securing the entire designation of public domain to the council, collaborating with the CNMI Public Assistance Office and U.S. FEMA, and working with the Saipan & Northern Islands Legislative Delegation to request for additional local funding as cost-share and match,” Castro said.
The entire project has been on the drawing board since August 2015 when Typhoon Soudelor extensively damaged the building and rendered it unusable based on post-inspection findings by CNMI and FEMA inspectors.
The project continues to undergo technical changes, going back and forth between numerous reviews, permitting clearances, and justifications by countless entities and offices within CNMI and federal government entities charged with securing funding and issuing approvals in order to expend monies for a host of disaster-damaged public facilities.
Chairwoman Castro dedicates the future municipal council building to the people of Saipan and the Northern Islands through the hard work and valuable collaboration manifested by so many stakeholders and individuals involved from the onset to date.
She credits the prior council officers and members, the Saipan Mayor’s Office through Mayor David Apatang, former and current governors and administrations, FEMA, PAO, SNILD, CNMI DPW, CNMI HPO, various permitting agencies, and private sector friends for their technical advices.
The new municipal council building is a 2,400-sqaure ft public facility and offices that will permanently house the municipal council as it plans and explores to expand municipal programs and services aimed at the safety of the youth and families in the villages in Saipan.
Among the potential programs being envisioned in villages are neighborhood watch, home gardening, beautification, environmental stewardship, home economics, capacity building training and development seminars (healthy living, nutrition, and wellness, budgeting, savings and investing, cooking, virtues and values, self-care and positive living, etc.), and cultural competency and proficiency in the indigenous languages, traditional medicine, heritage, arts and crafts.
Saipan & Northern Islands Municipal Council Chairwoman Ana Demapan Castro and Vice Chairwoman Antonia Manibusan Tudela hold a copy of an artist’s rendition of the new municipal council building at its site in Chalan Kanoa next to the U.S. Post Office.
Contributed photo
An artist’s rendition of the new municipal council building in Chalan Kanoa.
Contributed photo
