Projections peg over 24,000 H-2s for buildup

by Heather Hauswirth

Guam - The Guam Land Use Commission's chief planner, Carl Untalan, says the island may get as many as 24,000 H-2 workers as a result of the military buildup. Since last October, Untalan says he has confirmed three workforce plans beginning with YouNex for a requested capacity of 18,000, followed by Black Construction for a capacity of 12,000 and most recently with DD Construct in Barrigada for 300 - bringing the grand total to 22,672 workers capacity-wise.

But Untalan notes all of these structures have yet to be built and if he factors in the existing 1,949 workers, which have been approved prior to the buildup.  Guam would actually have as many as 24,621 H-2 workers capacity-wise.

"I'm not too sure if we will see 24,000 people here, but there's the potential for accommodating 24,621 H-2 workers," Untalan noted.  "It will require us to take a look at it in detail because there were a lot of conditions imposed on these projects so we have to be meticulous."

Untalan adds there are another six requests pending and three of those are currently under review by the reviewing committee - totaling a capacity of 1,582 potential H-2s. Three are pending that have yet to go before the reviewing committee and Untalan says those are tracking at roughly 1,590 potential foreign workers.