In the booklet his office prepared to list the projects that can be funded by the stimulus grants, Sablan said there are 300 unfunded watershed projects all over the U.S. amounting to $1.28 billion.
The stimulus package allots $145 million this year for the watershed projects.
The CNMI stimulus coordinating team has prepared an $8 million funding proposal for the completion of the Kagman watershed project, which includes the construction of one more waterway for flood control and a 70-million gallon water reservoir for irrigation.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resources Conservation Services is the funding agency of the project.
Sablan’s report, according to Agriculture Division Richard Seman, gives CNMI farmers hope.
“If we can get the funding from the stimulus package, we can finally get the watershed project going,” Seman said.
So far, the Kagman watershed project is the only proposal that the Department of Lands and Natural Resources has included in the $338.5 million stimulus package that the CNMI will ask the federal government to fund.
