Guam – In a letter to Navy Secretary Jackalyne Pfannenstiel, Buildup Committee Chair Senator Judi Guthertz wrote that Guam isn’t trying to borrow money to fix its sewer system.
The Senator was responding to reports in the Yomiuri Shinbum last Sunday that the Japanese Government was unlikely to “lend money to GovGuam for sewage plant upgrades because the Guam firm, already heavily indebted, probably would be unable to repay the loans.”
In a release the Senator says “there are already enough problems with the Guam military buildup without more misleading reports from the Japanese media. “
Read Guthertz Letter to Pfannenstiel
In the letter to Pfannenstiel, the Senator writes that there was never any discussion of Japanese loans for the infrastructure upgrades.
She writes: “The official buildup agreement, AKA ‘Roadmap’ and signed by Secretary of State Clinton, refers repeatedly to “cash contributions” by the Government of Japan for various purposes related to the buildup.”
Adding: “We’re not trying to buy a fancy car or a sewage system on credit. In fact, we weren’t a party to the negotiations during which it was clearly recognized that the requirements made of Guam to satisfy U.S. and Japanese goals in the buildup called for outside, deep‐pocketed assistance to satisfy local infrastructure needs.”
