PRIVATEENTERPRISESTIMUIATEDBY ECONOMICLOANS

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1 RELEASE: PRIVATEENTERPRISESTIMUIATEDBY ECONOMICLOANS,./, '_, Sapan, Fmrana Islands, Trust Terrtory of the Pacfc Islands - - June S, - - _The Economc Development Loan Fund has been one of the most mportant means by whch local economc actvty has been stmulated n Mcronesa. Much new mercantle, agrcultural and /,, _ ndustral development has been made possble through drect or bank loans guaranteed by the Fund. Although the Economc Development Loan Fund was establshed n,. 196B, the Trust TerrtoryGovernment has been loanng funds to prvate enterprse for over 0 years. In 1956, a revolvng fund from funds made avalable by the U. S. Congress was establshed for loans to locally-owned tradng cmnpaues. Ths revolvng fund was contnued _ untl August 1964 when U. S, Publc Law 487 transferred $368,000 n the former revolvngfund for loans to tradng companesto the Trust Terrtory Economc Development Loan Fund. The volume of loans made by the Fund has ncreased from y_ar to year. In fscal year 1964 loans totallng $20%000 _re made, whle $104,000 worth were guaranteedwth commercalbanks. Durng 1965 loans totallng $68,600 were granted whle $39,625 worth were guaranteed. MORE

2 PRIVATE ENTERPRISE - Page 2 Snce July 1965_ the amount agan was ncreased. The $146,000 whch was made n drect loans my be broken down as follows: $_,O00 - granted for busness expanson and modernzaton for handcraft shop, constructon busness, bakery and bus transportaton. $40,000 - granted for establshment of busness enterprses such as constructc_ of a skpjack and reef fshng boat, constructoa of apartments, motels, gas and motor servce Statc_, electrcal and fsh market shop and small ndustres. $33,000- establshment of shppng agency, to operate vessels servng as c_on carrer and to enga_ n stevedorng * and operaton of port termnal facltes. $29,000 - establlshment of poultry farms, cultvate land for vegetables and tropcal fruts, and mprove cattle pastures. In addton, loans totallng $127,600 were guaranteed wth c_ercal banks. Loans were guaramteed for t_ followng: $83,200 - for bus_uess expanson and modernzaton: Upholstery shops, bakery shop, talor shop, move theatre, warehouses and constructon materals. $31,700 - establshment of motels, electrc and applcamce shop, bakery shop and fshng ndustry. $12,700 - establshment of poultry farm, cultvate laud for vegetables and to purchase farm equpment. As of March 31, 1966, the Economc Development Loan F_ud had a total captal of $691,621. Po/21

3 _:,.,,_-., ',:,_... / /1.1_._IRIOR DEpABrI_IESI_PROPOSES $1"/'2 MILLION IMPROV_I/fl_ITPROGRAM FOR TRUST TERRITORY Sapan, Marana Islands, Trust Terrtory of the Pacfc Islands - - Jufe3, - " " The Department of the Interor h_s submtted to Congress... k - _v-;/-:-... [,-.a_kegslatv_ proposal t,oauthorze a $172-mllon, fve-year -/acc@erated captal nvestment program for the Trust Terrtory of... -" the Pacfc Islands.... _ Assstant Secretary F_rry Anderson sad such a program s necessary f the Unted States s to meet ts oblgaton of promotng the poltcal, economc, and socal advancement of _cronesa. - --_,:_--_ :-...Assstant Secretaly Anderson sad: "If we are to carry out... '_.., t_s cc_mtment_ enactment of ths bll s urgently requred. We! '_IL /... ':_: 7_( :":havevery much farther to go...._,._._, _.: "-_' _". ;..[ -- - :.. We need authorty to expend much more Federal money n the Trust Terrtory than we have spent n the past, Our res._ons ktesto the l&crones_ns permt no alternatve,"...)"'-.::"..andersonaddedthatd velol ent problemsfacedby the90,000 Mcrones_ns are "eno_o_" and are complcated by the fact the Trust Terrtory of the Pacfc Islands s scattered over almost 3,000, OOOsquare mles of the Pacfc Ocean, an area smlar n sze... _:... _ to that of the Unted States. The populaton of the Trust Terrtory s dvded among some 97 of the 2,000 slands, yet the total land area of all the many hundreds of slands s only 700 square mles, or about half that of Rhode Island. _'40P - L _ ;, 'COPY-T.Bj LIB,.,

4 II_2ERIORDEPARTMENT - Page 2 Although mportant progress has been made n educaton and health servces n the Trust Terrtory, much more remans to be done, Assstant Secretary Anderson sad. "The captal mprovement program that ths legslaton wll make possble wll allow ths Government to make the needed mprovements n the Trust Terrtory and allow ts people to enter the 20th Century_" he sad. "These nvestments wll create a favorable clmate for the economc development of ths area and ts people." Under the plan proposed by Interor, the $172 mllon nvestment would bolster hsalt h2 educaton, water, power, and sewage servces; 0 provde bettor ar, ground, and _ter transportaton; modernze and extend rado and telephone communcatons; and establsh sutable buldngs for executve, legslatve, and the judcal branches of the Terrtoral Government. In addton to provdng a stepped-up constructon program, the legslaton requested by the Department calls for removng the celng of $17.5 mllon a year for cvl government operatons. A fnancal plan accompanyng the draft legslaton would boost the operatons budget from $15.8 mllon to $22.6 mllon for Ths would rse to $39.2 mllon by Smlar changes would ncrease the budget for constructon and captal equpment from $15 mllon to $22.2 mllon next fscal year and to $37.9 mllon by The plan envsons that n fve years the Trust Terrtory _uld be sharng a much greater porton of ts fnancal needs through a hgher level of economc development. A prvate consultng frm now s completng a comprehensve development program MORE for the Terrtory. -. tcopy LBJ LIBRAI.,,

5 r. _,_..,,_ 4,.,_,_._,,_,,,_,-.,,_,....,,L... INTERIOR DEPAR_MEI_T- Page 3! Hghlghts of the proposed plan: I I Health--Provlde 515 hosptal beds n three major hosptals, seven regonal health centers and 75 dspensares; construct nursng school l facltes, four medcal servce vessels, and 00 unts of medcal 11 housng. Cost: $30.1 mllon. Educat0n--Construct 834 classrooms and 356 classrooms for secondary educaton for elementary school chldren and assocated facltes, such as ktchens and utltes. Cost: $76.9 mllon. (The amount does not nclude funds _for a possble educatonal televson system. A feasblty study for educatonal televson s under way). G L_ltes--Water supply and dstrbuton, sewage treatment and electrcal power supply plants and dstrbuton systems. Cost $32 mllon. Transportat0n--Surfacng arfeld runways, provdng runway lghtng, navgatonal ads, termnals and shops; constructng 190 mles of gravel or cor$1 surface roads and 00 mles of asphalt surface I roads; constructon of harbors, pers, and dredgng and markng channels. Cost: $19.8 mllon. Cmmmmcatons--nstallaton of mproved rado equpment n wdely separated admnstraton centers_ nstallaton of a two-way rado n each communty wth more than 50 people, constructon of a Mcro-wave system for voce communcaton between the terrtoral captal on Sapan and Guam and wth the U. S. manland; and nstallaton of telephone systems. Cost: $2.8 mllon. General Government-- Buldngs for Terrtoral Congress, court houses, offces, employee housng and equpment mantenance shops. Cost: $10.2 mllon. MORE, ICOPY._Y L-I_Pau_

6 INTERIOR DEPARTMEh_ - Page 4 There also would be expendtures to contrbute to the development of agrculture, terrtoral government rado, fsheres and boatbuldng, and publc safety. Constructon of hotel facltes would help encourage toursm. Assstant Secretary Anderson sad all of the mprovements planned are nterrelated. And he sad they are necessary f Mcronesans are to rse above a low level of subsstence and take ther place n a modern world He sad a "crash" program to acheve objectves of the plan would cost much more than the,proposed outlay and fall to allow tranng of Mcronesans_to take advautage of new employment oppo_rtuntes On the other hands he sad, a program extendng longer than fve years would have heavy costs n lost educaton opportuntes, debltatng effects of preventable--but unprevented--dsease, and n unused resources. The plan also ncludes:.. Recrutment of 20 doctors and 36 regstered nurses, supplemented by up to 21 publc health nurses; tranng for Mcronesan nurses; and recrutment and tranng of medcal support personnel. There would be specal programs for detecton, solaton, treatment and rehabltaton of patents wth dseases... Recrutng and tranng more teachers, snce 43 per cent of the teachers now are not hgh school graduates and only 30 per cent have L more than hgh school dplomas. More than half of the teachers cannot nstruct n Englsh. One goal would be to teach Englsh as a second language to every chld n every grade. Ic@ -

7 INTERIOR DEPARTMENT - Page 5 1 Assstant Secretary Anderson sad the Trust Terrtory now has I 19,000 chldren n elementary school and n hgh schools. Enrollment at both levels s lmted by space. Estmated enrollment n 1972, f thre are enough classrooms, s 29,000 n elementary schools and 8,000 n secondary schools. Populaton n the Tr_st Terrtory s gro_ng annually, compared to 1.6 per cent n the Unted almost 4 per cent States and 2.3 per cent n Inda. age. About half the populaton s less than 20 years of 7f J _' ICOPY-LB_-LIB..