Commanding officer of the Naval Facilities Engineering Command Marianas Captain Paul Fuligni spoke to members of the Guam Contractors Association today about NAVFAC and the coming military buildup. Contractors on Guam stand to make some major profit off the expected boom in construction as a result of the expansion of troops locally.


Although construction for the U.S. Marines won't start until 2010, Cpt. Fuligni says the Navy is already beefing up its construction in 2008. "Through the military construction program we're looking at potentially well over $300 million worth of construction contracts here on Guam, which is a real exciting opportunity I think for everybody," he explained.


If Congress approves, the Navy is currently looking at awarding this $300 million in contracts during Fiscal Year 2008. "We've got a lot of large projects coming up in Fiscal Year 2008," Fuligni explained. "Probably the biggest project the Navy has is the expansion of Kilo Wharf, that's our ammunition handling wharf there out on the Orote peninsula. We need to about double that wharf in size to accommodate a new class of Navy ammunition ships that will be coming to Apra Harbor."


Cpt. Fuligni says they hope to award a construction contract for Kilo Wharf by early next year if Capitol Hill gives the thumbs-up on their request for the $101 million project. According to Fuligni, the project is just the beginning, and currently there are many more in the works. "We have a proposed upgrade for our wastewater treatment plant on the navy base there at Apra Harbor, we have a brand new fitness center that's been proposed to replace our old, rather undersized fitness center down at Naval Base. There's some housing work being proposed to continue to replace some of the older housing units at Apra Harbor, so it's really quite a diverse set of work utilities work fitness center housing other utility projects. Just really kind of reinvesting in the navy's infrastructure here on the island," he said.


This $300 million in contracts for FY08 is just the tip of the iceberg and doesn't even begin to factor in the expansion of the Air Force, the building of a new army base, and the movement of 8,000 Marines and their families to Guam.