Ada opposes MARAD's approach to Port

by Ken Quintanilla

Guam - Committee on Transportation chairman Senator Tom Ada officially states his opposition toward MARAD's recommendation to dedicate the remaining balance of $50 million in DOD funding toward the port's water front infrastructure. In a letter to the Port's board of directors, Ada says his opposition stems from what he calls "an unbalanced approach to the modernization of Guam's commercial port."

"In as much as there is a valid need to strengthen our wharfs and to make improvements, there are also equally important and critically needs uplands," said the senator, "and these two issues, capacity as well as the sustainability, which is primarily an issue with the wharfs, must both be attended to as we can with the financial resources that we have."

MARAD's recommendation is to expend between $55 million to $98 million to repair and replace a thousand feet of wharf space compared to $12 million estimated to fund critically needed upland improvements.  He hopes the board will consider a risk management approach, one he sees as most rational considering available port improvement funds are insufficient.