44TH LEGISLATURE - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - FIRST SESSION, 1999

REQUESTING THE UNITED STATES STATE DEPARTMENT TO ARRANGE FOR A FOREIGN AID LOAN FROM THE COUNTRIES OF GERMANY, ISRAEL AND JORDAN FOR THE ISLETA BOULEVARD ROAD IMPROVEMENT PROJECT IN THE SOUTH VALLEY OF BERNALILLO COUNTY.

WHEREAS, the international monetary fund has provided the mechanism for the United States of America to provide foreign monetary aid to developing industrial countries and impoverished third world countries; and

WHEREAS, developing industrial countries and impoverished third world countries have benefitted greatly from foreign aid provided by the United States of America; and

WHEREAS, foreign aid has greatly enhanced the infrastructure of these developing industrial countries and impoverished third world countries; and

WHEREAS, there are some pockets in the United States and in New Mexico that resemble the conditions of third world countries; and

WHEREAS, there are some areas in the south valley of Bernalillo county in the metropolitan area of Albuquerque that lack infrastructure and have historically been neglected by local, state and federal governments; and

WHEREAS, the Isleta boulevard road improvement project has been on the drawing board for sixteen years and, in those sixteen years, the cost of the project has escalated from eight million dollars ($8,000,000) to twenty-four million dollars ($24,000,000); and

WHEREAS, funding for the Isleta boulevard project has been sacrificed and diverted to road projects in the northeast heights and the west mesa of the Albuquerque metropolitan area; and

WHEREAS, since foreign countries have benefitted greatly by United States foreign aid, it is only appropriate that impoverished areas and underdeveloped areas in the United States also benefit from foreign aid from those countries that have received United States foreign aid;

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO that the United States state department be asked to arrange for a loan of twenty-four million dollars ($24,000,000), through the international monetary fund, from the countries of Germany, Israel and Jordan; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the proceeds from the loan be used to complete the Isleta boulevard road improvement project, which is located in an underdeveloped area of New Mexico; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that appropriations from the state road fund and federal funds received from the federal highway administration be used to repay the loan; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that copies of this memorial be transmitted to the United States secretary of state, to the head of the international monetary fund and to the embassies of the countries of Germany, Israel and Jordan.