“We do not believe that our indigenous local would be interested in such a housing program,” Gregorio S. Cruz Jr., the group president, said.
He said what happened to the lower and upper MIHA housing units in Garapan will also happen to DPL’s proposed housing project.
Micronesians and those who can afford to acquire property are the ones who benefited from the MIHA housing project, he added.
According to Cruz, some of those units are now being rented out while others, especially in lower MIHA, have already been abandoned.
Cruz, said a homesteader with a family prefers to live privately and to have ownership of property.
“They don’t want to live in housing unit with restrictions,” he added.
MIHA stands for Marianas Islands Housing Authority which became the Northern Marianas Housing Corp. in 1994.
Public Lands Secretary John S. Del Rosario Jr. said the 300 quadruplex housing units on Saipan and Tinian will benefit 1,400 families.
DPL, he said, will soon submit the $256 million infrastructure installation plan that includes sewerage, roads and water to bidding.
Del Rosario said the project will be funded by the developer.
Cruz asked Del Rosario not to pursue this project.
Instead, DPL should continue implementing the homestead program so that the indigenous people will be prioritized, Cruz said.
But the DPL secretary said the current homestead program has been marred by corruption, saying that some homestead lots have been sold by their owners to other individuals.
