Construction Update

With the recent rains, I haven't been to see the progress on the construction projects up on Marpo Heights. The first house, that is almost done, continues to be painted inside and out with interesting colors. They have also begun to install the kitchen cabinets.

The next home that recently had its concrete roof poured has now had enough time to set, so they have removed all of the bracing from under the roof and have begun to coat the block walls with mortar or plaster base prior to painting. They don't do much to the poured concrete--just fix any honeycomb areas or ridges. Once all this prep work is done, they clean and prime everything, then paint it.

The third home, just being built, has its walls up and they are working to pour the concrete beams that form the top of the block walls, and over the garage areas. Once these beams are poured they will begin to build the supports for the concrete roof.

I was able to speak with the Foreman, Tony, and the big boss, Don Powell, about obtaining construction materials for these homes. Most material is double what it is in the states. I had assumed that some of the concrete was made here on the island, but this is not the case. Large container ships come into Saipan filled with concrete powder (not bags of concrete, but whole ships filled with just the concrete dust!). Once at Saipan, giant vacuums suck out the concrete powder into piles at the packaging factory where they put the concrete into bags. From this factory on Saipan, the concrete, now in bags, can be shipped around the island.

The cost of concrete is high, not only because of the cost of getting it here, but because of the high demand for concrete in the Asia area. China is sucking up all the natural resources in the area (and in a lot of the world). Just the massive dam projects China has going eats up a massive amount of concrete, driving the world cost higher.

The homes on Tinian are designed for both hurricane and earthquakes. To a great extent, they are over-built, being constructed better than some of the bomb shelters were during WWII!

They are also continuing to build the new road divider up Broadway.

I also found an interesting item hidden in the garden of a home I passed: an ocean buoy, sitting high up on Marpo heights, hidden by a palm tree. It looks like a giant bomb.