Federated States of Micronesia
A New Game
Problems Plague Nation’s Efforts To Rebuild Itself
As the FSM continues to deal with the growing pains associated with the expanded requirements and increased accountability of its amended Compact with the U.S. it is simultaneously coming to painful terms with its vast infrastructure needs.
As of late September, the state of Chuuk was powering itself with just one generator. Weno’s main road is so full of pot-holes it appears to have been carpet bombed. Throughout the country’s four states, children attend school in deteriorating structures without basic amenities. Public health facilities and water treatment facilities are in desperate need of updating and renovation.
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It is the national government, through its Office of Compact Management, that now prepares and presents an annual consolidated budget to the OIA. And the national government oversees infrastructure development, through a “project management unit” (PMU) within the FSM Department of Transportation, Communication and Infrastructure.
The new arrangements have led to some objections. States—-particularly Pohnpei and Yap-—have criticized progress on infrastructure and the national government’s contract arrangements with a Hawaii-based firm to be the country’s PMU.
The complaints have reached high enough places to provoke a review of the country’s five-year contract with GMP Hawaii, Inc., an engineering and architectural consulting firm out of Honolulu hired to perform services as the Project Management Unit, by the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) Office of Inspector General.
The Office of Inspector General assessment, contained in a memorandum titled “Compact Infrastructure Grant: Poor Project Planning and Questionable Contracting,” levels an array of claims essentially amounting to accusations of national government mismanagement of the infrastructure funds and numerous conflicts of interests. It goes so far as to suggest suspension of funding and termination of the contract with GMP.
In response, GMP in mid-September issued a 48-page assessment of the assessment—addressed to Deputy Assistant Secretary for Insular Affairs David Cohen—refuting the memo’s findings, strongly condemning its recommendations and uniformly challenging the professional conduct of the investigator who conducted the review.
The memo’s author, Insular Area Field Liaison Ben Privitt, did not respond to a request by Pacific Magazine for comment.
GMP President Wagdy Guirguis deflects the criticism. “Any time you make something new there is going to be resistance,” he says. Guirguis attributes much of the criticism to date as a result of the uncertainties associated with new ways of doing things. “It’s a new game and of course everyone is scared to death,” he says.
However, lingering concerns remain among national and state leaders and others. A recent letter to FSM President Joseph Urusemal from Office of Insular Affairs Director Nikolao Pula admonishes the FSM national government’s sluggish response to the criticisms leveled against it.
The FSM signed a five-year contract with GMP in May 2005 for provision of design, engineering and construction consultation on infrastructure projects. The contract provides for an initial two years of funding—worth $975,000—and eligibility to continue based on availability of funds.
Progress is reportedly being made in both Chuuk and Kosrae. “We’re just trying to build things that will last and be conducive to learning,” said GMP Project Manager Fred Gutierrez.
