17 Feb 2009

The successful contractor says new infrastructure in Micronesia is badly needed

3:05 pm on 17 February 2009

A company that won the contract to build new roads and a sewer system in the Federated States of Micronesia, says the infrastructure is desperately needed.

After a five year delay, the Marshall Islands contractor Pacific International Inc. has won the contract with a 27.5 million US dollar bid.

The company's operations manager Kenneth Kramer says work to build roads and a sewer system in downtown Chuuk will begin next month.

He says problems distributing funding granted under the Compact of Free Association with the United States have been ironed out and this work is long overdue.

"They have been [putting up] with horrible road conditions for many many years and as a result vehicles that would normally be travelling at probably 20-25 miles an hour are travelling anywhere from five to seven miles per hour. So a short distance of five miles could take you half an hour to travel."

Kenneth Kramer says the company expects to employ up to 200 local people on the project.