Pacific Magazine > Daily News

President's Office Evacuated In Majuro Because Of Unsafe Conditions

By Giff Johnson on Majuro
Thursday: August 28, 2008

The top floor of the capital building in the Marshall Islands was evacuated this week because of unsafe conditions.

“Pieces of cement are falling all over the place,” Public Works Minister Kejjo Bien said in an interview Wednesday of the problems on the fourth floor of the capital building.

The President’s Office, the Cabinet meeting room and Council of Iroij (Chiefs) office were moved to the International Conference Center that is located next door and are now setting up their offices. The two-story ICC was built last year with a $5 million grant from Taiwan for the Taiwan Pacific Allies Summit held in Majuro in October.

“This is a problem that’s been getting worse for more than four years,” Bien said of the capital building. The engineering firm Beca International of New Zealand first warned the Marshall Islands government several years ago of corrosion and rust problems in the capital building structure and that the fourth floor, in particular, was unsafe because of rusting rebar that is causing concrete to crack.

Bien said that when the new government came into office in January it became aware of an updated report that had recently been issued expressing the concern of engineers that the fourth floor should be evacuated so that remedial work could be started.

Currently, only Public Works engineers and staff are on the fourth floor clearing out the ceilings and checking the support structures. A plan for remedial work to fix the building is being worked on. “We’re working on a proposal for the next step,” Bien said.

The capital building was completed in 1993.