A TURNKEY ceremony was held on Friday for the turnover of an American with Disabilities Act accessible van from the Commonwealth Office of Transit Authority.
The day before, COTA arrived on Tinian to train the Office of the Mayor of Tinian and Aguiguan staff on the use of the van, which is intended to transport the elderly, persons with disabilities, and the general community of the island.
The ceremony was attended by various local public officials, including Gov. Ralph DLG Torres, Lt. Gov. Arnold I. Palacios, Tinian Mayor Edwin P. Aldan, Special Assistant for Public Transportation Alfreda Camacho, Senate President Jude U. Hofschneider, and Rota Mayor Efraim Atalig.
Also in attendance were COTA staff, Office of the Governor staff, Voices of the CNMI Tinian, CNMI Disability Network Partners, resident department heads, and the Office of the Mayor of Tinian and Aguiguan staff.
“This is again a continuation of progress looking forward [to] not just expanding our transit here in Saipan, but as you know, this is a whole Commonwealth, so we’re excited that Rota has a bus and now Tinian will have a bus and we look forward to expanding this program,” Torres said.
On July 1, then-acting Governor Palacios led the official handoff of an ADA-accessible van to the Municipality of Rota.
In the aftermath of Typhoon Mangkhut on Rota and Super Typhoon Yutu on Tinian in the fall of 2018, the governor, then-Senate President Palacios, and the CNMI leadership recognized an urgent need to expand transportation services on the two islands to include alternative forms of transportation, specifically for the elderly and persons with physical disabilities.
This prompted COTA to coordinate with the CNMI Disability Network Partners to acquire ADA-accessible vehicles for the communities of Rota and Tinian.
The total cost of these two ADA-accessible vans is $204,990.
Through the collaborative efforts with the 20th Legislature led by then-House Ways and Means Chairman Angel A. Demapan, $150,000 was appropriated to fund these vehicles, while $59,990 came from the COTA’s local revenue collections.
The governor expressed his gratitude to the COTA administration, staff, and drivers for playing a [beneficial] role in the CNMI’s response to the global Covid-19 pandemic.
“They’ve stepped up with transit [to] transport our people, our tourists, or our visitors, partners, military, and you name it, from the airport to the quarantine [site]. They’ve done a phenomenal job, so hats off to them. Thank you for all the sacrifices that you’ve [made] in the last year and a half,” he said.
On Friday, a turnkey ceremony was held on Tinian for the turnover of a new COTA van.
