The two tanks were cleaned but could no longer be restored and did not meet the American Petroleum Institute standards, he said.
“The cleaning of Tank 101 and Tank 102 was completed before the demolition portion of the Northern Marianas Housing Corp.-grant funded project began,” he added.
Malae said Tanks 101 and 102 used to be grain storage tanks that were retrofitted to hold petroleum.
Last week, CUC announced its invitation for bids for the installation of a new 500,000-gallon diesel fuel tank at Power Plant 1.
CUC asked interested vendors to provide quality control and quality assurance services during the preparation of a new foundation, fabrication, assembly, installation and commissioning of the tank and connected pipeline.
Malae said the above ground oil storage tank is for the installation of a new Tank 101.
This was made possible by a grant CUC received from NMHC through its Community Development Block Grant Program, he added.
The grant also funded the demolition and disposal of the old tanks, he said.
Additional tank work will be funded by CUC’s Stipulated Order 2 grant from the Office of Insular Affairs of the U.S. Department of the Interior, Malae said.
He said the new Tank 101 will replace Tank 103 so that it can be repaired and cleaned.
“Once the work is completed on Tank 103 and it is commissioned, Power Plants 1 and 2 will have two working tanks,” he added.
