by Sabrina Salas Matanane

Guam - The Government of Guam was notified this morning that $50 million had been deposited into the Port of Guam Improvement Enterprise Fund by the Department of Defense. The money will be administered by the U.S. Maritime Administration to the Port's Modernization Program. "This is great news for the Port and the people of Guam as we continue to move forward with our aggressive plans to transform the Port Authority of Guam into a world-class facility," Governor Felix Camacho said.

The $50 Million deposited today was the result of the FY 2010 Supplemental Appropriations Act which provided the Department of Defense the authorization to transfer up to a maximum of $50 Million from the FY 2010 Operations and Maintenance Fund to the Port of Guam Improvement Enterprise Fund. Receipt of matching grant funds or similar funds was a condition that would allow the USDA to approve the $50 million in loans since the Port's borrowing capacity was capped at $54.5 Million.

"We have already finished our preliminary design work and have made significant progress on our Modernization Program," Port General Manager Rick Agustin said. "We just concluded a week of Transition Meetings at the Sheraton with MARAD and their Program Management Team, EA Engineering, Science and Technology, along with representatives of USDA and JGPO. We held these Transition Meetings this week in anticipation of the $50 Million. We are preparing now to transfer the implementation of the construction to MARAD and EA Engineering and they will finalize the design and oversee construction of the Modernization Program."

The Port Authority of Guam has tentatively scheduled a Kick-Off Ceremony for the Construction Phase of the Modernization Program to occur late next month.