The project, which is projected to cost between $20 million and $30 million, will widen and improve the back road on Saipan.
DPW Technical Division Services Director Joe Inos said the project will expand the back road into a four-lane road with a center lane and a drainage system on both sides of the road.
The design for the first phase of the project, Inos said, has already been completed and sent to the U.S. Department of Transportation’s office in Hawaii.
The first phase of the project starts from San Vicente Elementary School and ends on Langit Drive.
The second phase, which was supposed to start on Capital Hill, will now start from Langit Drive and end at Sara Market. The third phase will start there and end in Sadog Tasi.
The completion of the design for the project was slightly delayed because some private land issues had to be resolved by DPW.
According to Inos, three land owners whose properties will be affected have already resolved these issues with the government.
But there are other concerns involving the second and third phases of the project and these involve the properties along the southbound direction of the road.
Inos said instead of waiting for these issues to be resolved, they will start the design of the northbound side of the road.
The cost of the project, he added, rises every year in terms of labor, materials and fuel.
“If we are going to wait for these private land issues to be resolve, the cost of the project will be doubled or tripled in the future due to increasing wage rate every year and the costs materials and shipping,” Inos said.
The first phase of the project will start early next year while the design for the second and third phase are being completed, he added.
