The Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas is asking the United States Department of Defence why it insists on building a divert airfield on Saipan instead of on Tinian.
The Governor Eloy Inos says he wants to meet with US officials and personally tell them about the CNMI Government's preference that the alternative airfield be built on Tinian, two-thirds of which is already leased by the US military.
Part of the Department's plan is to lease 13 hectares of land on Saipan for 50 years for an alternative airfield in the Marianas for the US Air Force in the event access to Andersen Air Force Base in Guam is limited or denied.
There are also plans to build additional aircraft parking spaces, hangars, fuel storage tanks and ammunition storage facilities, as well as other improvements to Saipan's historic airfield.
The land on Saipan includes historic sites such as a pre-war Japanese airfield.
