DENNIS ODA / DODA@STARBULLETIN.COM
Gov. Linda Lingle and state Transportation Director Rod Haraga yesterday toured the empty 32,000-square-foot building that Lingle wants turned into a "fishing village" where the fish auction and other related operations would be housed.
Fishing village
approved for fundsState funds will fix the methane
gas problem at Honolulu Harbor
The state's stalled and over-budget fishing village at Piers 36-38 in Honolulu Harbor may finally open in April after the site is retrofitted to fix a problem with methane gas contamination.
Gov. Linda Lingle released $1.42 million to pay for the methane mitigation yesterday and said the fishing village -- a pet project of former Gov. Ben Cayetano -- was "a good idea, but the execution was lacking."
In a news conference in front of an empty 32,000-square-foot fishing village building, Lingle said, "This was supposed to be a showcase for the fishing industry, but instead it's become a classic example of government at its worst, with no accountability and wasteful spending of the taxpayers' money."
Lingle stood in front of the same sketches used by Cayetano when he unveiled plans for the fishing village six years ago.
At the time, the construction cost was estimated at about $6 million, and the project was to be open in two years.
Lingle said the cost of design and construction is now $18.4 million, and the project has yet to return any investment to the taxpayers.
The Department of Transportation estimates that if the site is fully developed, the fishing village will bring in nearly $1 million a year in lease rents.
Construction on the fishing village, including the main multiuse building, was completed in April 2002, but problems with methane contamination have kept the state from leasing the space in the building or the other parcels on the 16.5-acre site.
Lingle said state officials rushed the construction without proper planning or complete environmental studies.
The state started construction on the $4 million building in January 2001, even though studies done in 2000 showed the presence of methane, a potentially explosive gas, Lingle said.
Much of the state's Honolulu Harbor land is contaminated with petroleum from oil storage facilities and leaking pipelines that have been in the area for decades.
The $1.42 million released yesterday will pay for the construction of an underground barrier and pipes to vent the methane away from buildings on the fishing village. The state has put the construction project out to bid.
Before he left office last year, Cayetano told the Associated Press that the methane problem was one that no one was able to detect. Department of Transportation officials said the initial environmental assessment in 1998 focused on petroleum pollution and did not consider methane generated from petroleum.
Also at the news conference were officials of the United Fishing Agency, which operates the fish auction at Kewalo Basin, and Pacific Ocean Producers, which sells fishing and marine supplies and operates longline fishing boats.
Both companies are planning to construct facilities at the village at a cost of about $2 million each and have been longtime supporters of the project.
The facility will allow United Fishing Agency to move from the state land it leases in Kakaako, where the state has other development plans.
"After long delays, we're pleased that the fishing village will soon open and that businesses like ours can begin operations," said Frank Goto, the general manager of United Fishing Agency.
With United Fishing Agency and Pacific Ocean Producers as anchor tenants, the state hopes that other retail, wholesale and even restaurant operations will lease space in the building or build their own structures on vacant land in the complex.
