An over $20 million plan to reinvent housing for displaced Kwajalein “Mid-Corridor” islanders is the latest step in an overhaul of Ebeye Island infrastructure.
Mid-Corridor islanders were evacuated in 1965 by the US Army so missile tests could be targeted on Kwajalein’s “Mid-Corridor” lagoon area. Although Mid-Corridor residents have modified many of these one-story block apartments over the years to accommodate the growing population, they are still living in apartments built by the Army in 1965.
A plan in progress by the Kwajalein Atoll Development Authority would revamp the current housing by building a series of two- and three-story apartments with the goal of opening up some space around the housing area.
“We’ve had two consultations on the housing plan with the Mid-Corridor people, including one last week,” said Kwajalein Senator David Paul Monday. The engineering firm Beca International is incorporating feedback from these meetings into the designs it is preparing. “We’re expecting a final design plan in about six weeks,” said Paul.
The estimate on cost for the new housing is in the $20 to $23 million range. Options for funding are under consideration. “The Mid-Corridor housing is a priority,” he said.
Paul said the Mid-Corridor housing re-development plan is part of a bigger plan “to systematically transform the way Ebeye is laid out.”
Read more about this in the October 7, 2016 edition of the Marshall Islands Journal.