On Wednesday, the U.S. Department of Transportation denied the $50 million dollar in ARRA Tiger Grant Application for Guam’s port modernization plan.
The grant denial was a huge surprise to the Port Authority of Guam as well as the Joint Guam Program Office, and the message has left the agencies charged with the first phase of the Guam buildup reeling for other funding sources to improve Guam’s port infrastructure.
The modernization of Guam’s port has been described as “critical” by the military for the successful implementation of the Guam buildup and therefore a “plan B” has been in development for the remote possibility of a denial of the Tiger Grant application.
Now that the remote possibility has occurred, JGPO’s offices in Washington, D.C. and in Guam are working overtime to fine tune their “plan B” option for funding of Guam’s port modernization.
“The Tinian Chamber of Commerce would like to officially request your assistance to include Tinian’s port improvements as a part of your ‘plan B’ for funding of Guam’s Port Improvements. The Tinian Chamber of Commerce, as well as the Saipan Chamber of Commerce, strongly believes that Tinian’s port is in dire need of repair especially due to the planned increased usage by the military for its proposed actions. Both the Tinian and Saipan Chambers of Commerce can be available to discuss this proposal with you in detail and we offer our full support and resources to ensure you have all the information necessary for Tinian’s port to be included in your ‘plan B’ scenario. We look forward to your positive acceptance of our suggestion,” Phillip Mendiola-Long said in an e-mail to Bice.
Mendiola-Long is president of the Tinian chamber.
The chamber said the 65-year-old infrastructure at the Tinian port has already been placed under a state of emergency by the governor of the CNMI and the mayor of Tinian and is therefore unsuitable for military usage.
