by Ken Quintanilla

Guam - Just when the Port Authority of Guam thought it was ready to move forward with modernization, a wrench has been thrown into the mix. During a briefing today it was revealed a draft department of defense inspector general report cites structural inadequacies and deficiencies with the port's water front facilities.

Port board chairperson Dan Tydingco says initial plans to move forward with $50 million in DOD funding for modernization will have to be on hold until a third party or independent analysis is conducted on the port's water front infrastructure. He said, "Now the only thing that's throwing a screwball at us in this whole thing is there's an inspector general's report that just came out from the Department of Defense that's indicating that we have to pay more attention and possibly shore up if not outright repair, replace the wharf facilities that are down there that are structurally degraded. Given that disclosure of late, what we're doing is we're going to be engaging in soil testing, geo-technical testing for that facility down there, how much alteration we have to do the agreed scope of work that we've come to so far."

Tydingco says a conference call will be held next week with all stakeholders and the DOD's Inspector General's Office to go over their concerns.