THE Port Authority of Guam is scheduled to meet with officials from the Maritime Administration (MARAD) to discuss moving forward with critically-needed wharf repairs and upgrades to Berths F4, F5 and F6.

Over the last several months, PAG Board Chairman Dan Tydingco and other PAG officials have expressed their frustration with MARAD because of its continued silence on moving forward with the repair projects.

Tydingco yesterday addressed the Rotary Club of Guam during a membership meeting at the Guam Marriott Resort.

Tydingco briefed Rotarians on the discourse between PAG and MARAD that took place over several meetings. In one meeting with MARAD in February in Washington D.C., Tydingco said MARAD expressed hesitation in moving forward because of the intense scrutiny they received regarding similar repairs at the Port of Alaska.

“They’ve been under tremendous scrutiny for administering that project that started off at $300 million and mushroomed to over a billion dollars. So they’re under a lot of heat and observation,” Tydingco said. “But we kept impressing upon them that we’re such a small project for them and if anything to try and rehabilitate ... their integrity and their image."

Disagreement

Tydingco said part of the delay in the wharf repair projects was also caused by a disagreement in the assessments conducted by Port and MARAD engineers.

During the meeting with MARAD officials in Washington D.C., Tydingco said MARAD officials conveyed their desire to conduct more analyses of the damage to parts of the Port.

“They said, ‘Well, we wanted to conduct more and more tests.’ And we said, ‘How many more tests do you guys have to have to show this thing is decaying even further and eroding?’ But their point was, ‘Well maybe we want to take that whole $50 million and put it all over here,’” Tydingco said while pointing to a board showing a map of the Port. “But it’s an engineering debate between our engineers [and] their engineers.”

MARAD officials arrived on-island Wednesday, Tydingco said, and have requested a meeting with Port officials as they have finished conducting their latest assessment of the Port.

“Hopefully, we’ll be able to see eye to eye on this,” Tydingco said.

In a separate interview, Tydingco said the directive that was recently given to PAG General Manager Mary Torres to seek a $15 million loan to fund the wharf repair projects will continue pending the outcome of the meeting with MARAD. Tydingco said the Guam Economic Development Authority should have a finalized loan facility and will begin the procurement process for the $15 million loan. During the Rotary meeting, Tydingco invited banking professionals to offer a bid.

Under the MARAG-PAG 2008 memorandum of understanding, MARAD was designated as the “lead federal agency” for the Port Modernization and Expansion program.