By Pacific Island Times News Staff
The proposed authorization of $140 million for Guam’s Defense Access Road program has been incorporated into the 2025 National Defense Authorization Act, Guam Del. James Moylan announced today following the release of the House Committee on Natural Resources' markup of the spending policy bill.
Proposed by Moylan, the DAR program provides the legal means for the Department of Defense to pay its fair share for public highway improvements that are made necessary by sudden or unusual defense-generated impacts.
“These impacts are such that the DoD cannot reasonably expect the local authorities to plan for them in their normal highway improvement plans,” states a press release from the Guam delegate’s office.
The DAR program may include the strengthening and repaving of public roads,
the replacement of bridges and the retrofitting of manholes.
As part of the one-Guam plan, powerlines running alongside roadways to be repaired can be relocated underground. The program could also support mechanical infrastructure, such as telecommunications and water/sewer lines.
"While the chairman's mark is just the start of a lengthy process, the fact that
the language was incorporated in the draft base text increases the odds of it staying in the final version of the House's bill, versus needing for it to be advocated for on the floor as an amendment,” Moylan said.
“This is certainly a positive sign. However, we also understand that our work
is certainly far from over on this issue, and we will continue to advocate
to ensure that the language, or even the amount, is not amended in
the process," he added.
The initial discussions on the FY 2025 NDAA commence this week, and the
process is anticipated to last for a few months.
Moylan’s office said the delegate is also pursuing the appropriation language for this authorization in one of the forthcoming appropriations bills, as this request was part of his office's Community Project Funding requests.
Comments