Work starts on ECC gym

ECC gym renovation 5-1-17 IM DSC01407
A Pacific International Inc. construction crew at work on the outside of the ECC gym in Delap earlier this week. Photo: Isaac Marty.

Passers by on Amata Kabua Boulevard in Delap were shocked the past few days to first see a wall go up around the damaged and condemned ECC gym, and later to see scaffolding appear and hard-hatted construction workers begin work at the facility.

The RMI government hasn’t yet identified funding to complete what could be a $3 million-to-$4 million renovation of the former national gymnasium. But in the meantime, the Ministry of Public Works had about $1.5 million in leftover funding approved for work on the facility that earlier was being overseen by US Naval engineers.

New Project Management Unit Director William Reiher said Pacific International Inc. has been hired to secure the site and do pre-construction preparation work in order to ensure the roof doesn’t collapse.

Reiher said PMU is looking to identify additional funds needed to complete the work.

The ECC was closed in June 2011 after a portion of the roof collapsed due to termite damage.

Read more about this in the May 5, 2017 edition of the Marshall Islands Journal.