“I WISH you luck. If it’s going to happen, it’s going to be problematic for the CNMI government,” said Department of Lands and Natural Resources Secretary Anthony T. Benavente to the Saipan and Northern Islands Soil and Water Conservation District board members during their meeting on Friday regarding proposed amendments to the multimillion-dollar Kagman Watershed Project.
Board treasurer Edward Deleon Guerrero sought to amend the planning and design phase of the project to include a billion-gallon water tank and reinstall water distribution lines to farm plots.
He said the tank would hold water to be distributed to farm plots.
Benavente, however, said this would not be feasible for the CNMI government, adding that the Commonwealth and its federal partners already have an agreement in place for the remaining three phases of this project.
“This is something that you have to understand,” he added. “We have to complete these phases. You’re trying to redirect funds for this project, if I’m not mistaken. Now, I wish you luck. If it’s going to happen, it’s going to be problematic for the CNMI government.”
Benavente said, “Nothing else can be set aside in terms of this project. Once this project is completed, then we can negotiate what to do with the next phase. [These proposed additional projects] can be done if we first complete the remaining three phases.”
“With all due respect, that is my goal as well,” he added. “When this money builds these three phases to completion, there may be some funds leftover. Who knows? Federal bureaucracy sometimes doesn’t move as fast as we want it to.”
Deleon Guerrero then withdrew his motion to amend the project’s phases.
He said, however, that it would not be as costly to at least lay down the lines to redistribute water to farm plots.
Board Chair Liana S. Hofschneider recommended that Benavente and the board work together to find other avenues of funding — whether it be through the CNMI or the federal government — to construct a billion-gallon water tank and reinstall water distribution lines to farm plots.
She added that it would also be in the best interest of the CNMI to work with the U.S. Department of Agriculture-Natural Resources Conservation Service on present and future endeavors.
The board agreed that it would delve deeper into the Kagman Watershed Project, and reconvene to discuss the matter further.
Saipan and Northern Islands Soil and Water Conservation District board treasurer Edward Deleon Guerrero talks about the Kagman Watershed Project during a board meeting on Friday in the governor’s conference room.
