GOVERNOR Eloy S. Inos yesterday urged the Department of Land and Natural Resources to fast-track the public market project at the Garapan Fishing Base.
“Hopefully this facility will allow more local people to get into backyard farming or fishing,” he said.
Inos and other government officials participated in a ceremony marking the turnover from the Department of Public Lands to DLNR of some 14,000 square meters of property for the development and management of a permanent public market complex.
The project, Inos said, will also be good for the tourist industry.
“I am hoping the DLNR secretary will turn this place into a new attraction,” he added.
DLNR Secretary Arnold I. Palacios said the challenge right now is funding.
He noted that U.S. Congressman Gregorio Kilili Camacho Sablan was able to secure $200,000 in federal money but it won’t be enough as the project also involves landscaping and the development of the shoreline.
“This is everybody’s project and I hope everybody will give us ideas and encouragement as well as help us [secure more funding],” Palacios said, adding that there’s a lot of pieces they need to put together.
DPL Secretary Pete A. Tenorio said Palacios assured him that the governor will use some of the CNMI’s federal capital improvement project funds for the completion of the public market.
“Whenever [DPL] conveys a piece of public property to a government agency, I would like to think we mean business and that there is money for the project, and that they have a plan,” Tenorio said. “In this case Arnold assured me that they will have the funds.”
He said the government should start spending federal funds allocated to the CNMI for CIP’s.
Senate President Ralph DLG. Torres said farmers, ranchers and other members of the community should work together to support the project.
In order to ensure the public market’s success, he added, the community should patronize it and purchase local produce.
In a separate interview, Sid Cabrera, a former agriculture consultant and one of those involved in the planning of the public market facility, said then- Gov. Benigno R. Fitial abandoned the project.
“There was $800,000 in funding and everything was complete including the architectural design, the selection of the contractor, and the schedule for groundbreaking but Fitial just scrapped the project,” he said.
Fitial said the site was reserved for an Ohio-based investor who wanted to build a floating hotel on Saipan, but that project never materialized.
Ramon B. Camacho, Sabalu Farmers Market Inc. president, said the public marker project will definitely benefit farmers and ranchers.
“This is an outstanding project and it’s long overdue,” he said, adding that it will fulfill the vision of the late Anthony Pellegrino who wanted to export the island’s local produce.
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