by Sabrina Salas Matanane

Guam - Things are about to change for thousands of Chamorro Land Trust lessees as the feds have given the green light on a program providing them with the most basic infrastructure that most people take for granted. "It's a great day on Guam," said Monte Mafnas.

If he's not going after businesses that owe back rent to the Chamorro Land Trust Commission, then Mafnas, the CLTC's administrator, is going after money to help better the quality of life for lessees. "It's really exciting times," he added.

At least 3,000 CLTC lessees stand to benefit from an agreement with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which enables to the CLTC to finance the water, wastewater, power and telephone services on their properties. The agreement follows a final rule by the USDA under the substantially underserved trust area.

He said, "The program would help us borrow money at 2% interest amortized over 40 years, up to 75 years, to install and embed infrastructure such as water, wastewater telephone and power lines. This will make all our lots that we embed infrastructure developable."

CLTC commercial license fees have been designated as the repayment source, so according to Adelup the program is self-generating. The Calvo Administration admits that there will not be enough money in the pot to complete all infrastructure needed, but this is a substantial starting point. The CLTC will work on one subdivision of land at a time. Work will begin in Yigo so the agency can do its part to protect the northern aquifer from further contamination.

In the meantime, Mafnas is looking forward to turning dreams into reality for thousands of lessees who've endured years without the most basic of infrastructure. "A lot of leases were issued out and some of them are inaccessible - a lot of them have water about 1,000 feet away and a lot of them have sewer line 2,000 feet away so the cost to bear was astronomical. So a common wage earner is unable to pay for $10,000 or $50,000 of infrastructure cost per hour house," he said.

CLTC and DLM have been in discussion with USD about this arrangement over the last nine months. According to Governor Eddie Calvo it fulfills a campaign promise to find a way to get water and waste water services to the people. All that's left is for the MOU to be signed, which Mafnas anticipates in a month or two.