The new grants are as follows:
• $3.5 million — Kosrae airfield fencing and electrical system upgrade
• $3.5 million — Chuuk airfield fencing and electrical system upgrade
• $7.5 million — Yap runway turnaround, shoulders improvements & pavement seal coat
• $2 million — Chuuk pavement seal coat
The new grants were accepted by the Secretary of the FSM Department of Foreign Affairs Lorin Robert, the Secretary of the Department of the Transportation, Communications and Infrastructure Francis Itimai and Assistant Attorney General Timoci Romanu on behalf of Justice Secretary Maketo Robert.
Present during the acceptance of the grants was Massy Halbert, the airport improvement program manager.
In addition to these new grants for fiscal year 2009, the following grants were received in FY 2008 but have not been used because they are waiting for local matching shares from the FSM states, which are 5 percent of the grant amounts:
• $14.98 million — Phase I of Pohnpei runway rehabilitation
• $4 million — four airport master plans — one per FSM airport
It was agreed upon at the State National Leadership Conference in January, to allow the 5 percent matching to be prioritized out of the states’ shares of the Compact infrastructure funds.
This should enable the matching to be met and the projects to be implemented.
The FAA will be visiting Pohnpei on March 19 to follow-up on the state of the airport projects and to discuss issues and concerns pertaining to the program.
The delegation will be comprised of Ron Simpson, the manager of the FAA Honolulu Airports District Office, and Berry Brayer, the manager of the Micronesian Program.
