Lack of funding, room jeopardize Guam buildup

[unhappycamper]

Lack of funding, room jeopardize Guam buildup
By Michael Hoffman - Staff writer
Posted : Sunday Sep 30, 2007 9:30:13 EDT

More than 60 years after leathernecks liberated Guam during World War II, plans for a second invasion of 8,000 Marines and 9,000 dependents from Okinawa, Japan, scheduled for 2014, are falling behind as uncertainties with funding the transfer and finding enough room on the tiny Pacific island risk dooming the project altogether.

Issues have arisen with getting Congress and the Japanese government to approve funding for the estimated $10.3 billion military buildup, which also includes constructing an Army ballistic missile defense station and a new Navy pier capable of berthing a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, according to retired Marine Maj. Gen. David Bice, the director of the Joint Guam Program Office, and a recent report by the Government Accountability Office.

The Japanese government has agreed to fund $6.1 billion of the $10.3 billion price tag for the Marine move, but Bice said he is still worried that the Guam project could be passed over for other priorities in the Middle East.

~snip~

His office missed a December 2006 deadline to submit a master plan for the buildup to the Senate Appropriations Committee, but Bice said his office isn’t planning to issue one until February 2009, so funding will be included in the fiscal 2010 military budget and construction can start by summer 2010.

~snip~

His office missed a December 2006 deadline to submit a master plan for the buildup to the Senate Appropriations Committee, but Bice said his office isn’t planning to issue one until February 2009, so funding will be included in the fiscal 2010 military budget and construction can start by summer 2010.


Rest of article at: http://www.marinecorpstimes.com/news/2007/09/marine_guam_070930/

[MADem]

1. Why bother sending anything up through a BushCo DOD, really?

Might as well wait until there's a Democratic President in the WH, and that individual appoints a SECDEF who will order priorities a bit differently.

The project -- at least the pier -- can't be pushed aside, unless the GOJ is willing to extend the stay for awhile. It IS cheaper than having a full-fledged SDF of their own. Be interesting to see what happens to recruiting over there after we leave....

You know damned well there are folks on Guam who are rubbing their hands together with glee. All those forces and family memebers...there's MONEY to be made!

Years ago, wags in the military used to term GUAM "Give Up and Masturbate." The idea was you'd have no hope of getting a date there.

Times change, I reckon...

The GAO report described the two major roads in Guam as in “poor condition” and pointed out that the lack of roadways forces the Air Force to transport ordnance through highly populated areas ...The electric grid is also unreliable and the utility transmission lines are antiquated, according to the report. The solid-waste landfills are near capacity and the “waste-water treatment facilities have a long history of failing” and are also near capacity, the GAO reported.

Construction has been going on for the last couple years on Guam to update these faults, Gumataotao said. About $500 million has already been invested for projects to shore up roads, install power lines underground, and improve the handling of wastewater...Questions also surround how all the new Marines will be housed and how a high quality of life will be maintained on the remote island. Bice said the Japanese government plans to build 3,250 homes on base, and the governor’s office confirmed that housing developers on the island are working to build more off-base housing.

While the island can be a lonely place for service members, Bice is confident that the efforts made by his office and Guam officials will make it an attractive station.

“It’s going to be the new Oahu because it’s going to be a place people want to go,” he said.

The lack of infrastructure is fixable, but no study or congressional funding bill will create more space on the island, which is roughly the size of Camp Pendleton, Calif.