by Ken Quintanilla

Guam - It's been months since the Chamorro Land Trust Commission announced an agreement with the U.S. Department of Agriculture to help better the quality of life for CLTC lessees. And it may finally start moving forward.

The Department of Land Management recently issued a list of milestones and accomplishments within the past two years with just as many goals set for 2013. "Everyday helping the people of Guam is the goal of the department," said DLM director Monte Mafnas, "and we shall never cease to improve and ensure the service level; we are doing out best to respond expediently and accordingly."

And while they still wait for the memorandum of understanding to be signed, Mafnas says they can finally start moving forward on parts of the agreement announced last June with the U.S. Department of Agriculture set to benefit at least 3,000 CLTC lessees. "Well, they finally gave orders that we can commence the exercise loan review and to apply and proceed forward," he stated.

This would enable the CLTC to finance the water, wastewater, power and telephone services on their properties. The agreements follow a final rule by the USDA under the Substantially Underserved Trust Area. Mafnas explained, "There in we should be generating anywhere from $60,000 to possibly $100,000 in fees per month. We would like to dedicate these funds to the SUTA program to utilize in subdivisions."

The CLTC will be borrowing the money at a low 2% interest rate amortized over 40 to possibly 75 years. Mafnas says he's elated with the development, adding, "And the beneficiaries of the trust can see the light at the end of the tunnel that we're going to infrastructure Dededo and Yigo to protect the northern water lens."

Mafnas says the next steps are trying to define the income stream and have senators and the governor approve the funding strictly for the SUTA dedication where then they can start identifying where to begin the infrastructure program. He expects the final documents for the MOU to be signed within the next quarter at the latest.