HILARY HOSIA
The construction of a soon-to-be massive track and field facility on the ocean side of Jenrok village would put an end to ocean inundations in the heavily populated area of Majuro.
Jenrok is one of Majuro’s most vulnerable areas during king-tide seasons and a top pick for visiting journalists seeking climate change stories, which is why landlords have been receptive about moving forward with building the expansive structure. They agreed to hold a groundbreaking event this week Thursday with the government, National Olympic Committee, and contractor Pacific International Inc.
The landlords came to final agreement after reviewing plans pitched by Minister of Works, Utilities and Infrastructure Tony Muller and PII spokespersons Kenneth Kramer and Bobby Muller at a meeting Tuesday at DAR Cafe.
The project is expected to take 18-20 months to complete.
The new track field will stretch as far as five acres starting from Marshall Islands Club (MIC) toward the late Billy Sawej’s residence in Jenrok (heading north).
The facility will act as a huge seawall to combat high tides.
This would also mean fewer individual sea walls needed for the Jenrok area out of the 33 seawall projects approved by RMI national government for the coming year.
Date of the start of construction will be announced after negotiations in Taiwan later this month for a soft loan needed to underwrite the estimated $6 million price tag of the new sports facility.
Read more about this in the May 3, 2019 edition of the Marshall Islands Journal.