Former Rep. William Torres, consultant of the upcoming resettlement and redevelopment of Northern Islands summit, said CPA Executive Director Edward Deleon Guerrero “recommended that the mayor write a letter requesting CPA to perform cost estimation for the facility upgrade,”
Before the meeting, businessmen Paul Zak and Anthony Pellegrino made a power point presentation about the creation of an “air bridge” to the Northern Islands through their Arctic Circle Air.
Torres said the cost estimation report will be provided to private developers, government agencies or even to the military regarding upgrading the present runway on Pagan, an island with an active volcano.
“At the moment, Cessna planes can easily make a safe landing on the grassy airstrip similar to the plane Zak and company proposes to fly up north,” Torres said.
He said they will seek the support of Congressman Gregorio Kilili Camacho Sablan, Gov. Benigno R. Fitial, federal officials and other local leaders, Torres said.
“As the saying goes, ‘build it, and they will come,’ applies no less to the Northern Islands,” he said.
He did not mention where they will get the millions of dollars required by the plans for the remote and mainly uninhabited Northern Islands.
Torres said their group continues to hold weekly briefings with government agencies and the private sector in preparation for the summit.
He said they have already an upgraded website of the Northern Islands is complete with new updated information about the CNMI’s “last frontier.”
The Public School System, the former education commissioner added, will be involved in the summit and “will play a big role in the development of our Northern Frontier.”
Torres said the summit was supposed to be held this month but it was because the flight plans of some of their off-island partners “were abruptly compromised by the unanticipated debt crisis in the U.S.”
He added, “Funding is only a concern to the extent that we’d like to make the historic summit comprehensive and informative, involve the cross-section of the community and be transparent, investor-friendly, focused, concentrated, and enjoyable within a highly compressed 8-hour timetable.”
