By Mar-Vic Cagurangan
As the Tinian divert airfield project nears completion, the Department of Defense plans to expand its presence to other islands in the Northern Marianas, Gov. Arnold Palacios said.
“They're looking at a concept to build very passive property facilities in Rota and Saipan, such as storage, warehousing and fuel,” Palacios said after a closed-door meeting with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Guam Gov. Lou Leon Guerrero and Guam Del. James Moylan at Andersen Air Force Base on Thursday.
The plan also includes expanding the aprons at Rota and Saipan airports, and improving the ports throughout the commonwealth islands, the CNMI governor said.
Palacios said the defense chief “talked about forces posture” and “building it out—that was the phrase he used” during the meeting.
The CNMI governor said the U.S. military’s divert airfield project on Tinian is now about 65 percent complete.
“(It’s) almost manicured,” Palacios said of the airfield. “Those investments are in place and we want them to take a look at it.”
Hegseth had a stopover on Guam but skipped the Northern Marianas during his Pacific tour that includes Hawaii, the Philippines and Japan.
The $22 million airfield upgrade project—one of the major defense undertakings on Tinian, where the U.S. military is investing close to $800 million — is designed to provide an alternative landing site for military aircraft if Andersen Air Force Base on Guam becomes incapacitated due to war or natural calamities.
The first phase of the project is scheduled to be completed in October 2025.
As the most forward U.S. territories in the Pacific, both the CNMI and Guam are considered critical to U.S. defense and power projection amid escalating geopolitical tensions in the region.
While acknowledging the CNMI's role in the U.S. defense mission, Palacios could not tell what other military plans are in store for the commonwealth.
“Of course, we're not going to know. We can't tell them what they need to do. They're the ones planning for it,” Palacios said. “But at the end of the day, it is also our obligation as people of the commonwealth and civic leaders of the commonwealth to articulate the needs of the civilian population as we move forward."
The CNMI’s infrastructure facilities, for example, need attention “because they have not had the opportunity for investments that the federal government has made on Guam,” Palacios said.
“Guam’s very fortunate that when the plan for the Marines relocation was put in place, a lot of infrastructure had to be addressed,” he added.
Besides infrastructure upgrades, Palacios said the CNMI needs “investments in economic recovery.”
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