OFFICIALS of Northern Marianas College are hoping that Gov. Juan N. Babauta would prioritize NMC needs once the administration secures federal CIP funding for the CNMI.
NMC budget officer David DLG. Atalig said the college was not included in previous CIP funds for unknown reasons although its 40-year-old buildings badly needed repair.
“We didn’t get any CIP funding. Much of the money went to the new prison facility and other projects,” Atalig said in an interview.
Alfred Johnson, NMC director for administrative services, said the college needs some $16.1 million to finance three major infrastructure projects: a building for the school of education, $2.5 million; new general purpose classrooms, $6.7 million; and a single building to house the archives, the library and the Pacific Collections, $6.9 million.
“That is just our estimated budget. It could go up or down,” Johnson said, adding that their proposals had been brought to the attention of lawmakers as early as last year but NMC “never got any money.”
But this time, Johnson is optimistic that Babauta, a former NMC board chairman, would allocate CIP funds to some if not all of NMC’s proposed projects.
Johnson said they need additional space on the campus to meet the increased demand for more classrooms.
