THE CNMI expects to receive $51.68 million in federal grants for fiscal year 2003, according to the Office of Management and Budget.
“It is a good number. It will increase the ($217.96 million) spending package the administration is proposing for the next fiscal year,” Finance Secretary Frankie Villanueva told Variety yesterday.
The governor’s senior policy advisor, Robert Schwalbach, said OMB’s federal grants projection is “very reliable.”
He said the administration will work “very hard” to secure additional federal funding.
At least nine key departments and offices are due to receive multi-million federal grants:
The Public School System will get $17.194 million; the Department of Community and Cultural Affairs, $9.916 million; the Department of Public Health, $6.085 million; the Office of the Governor, $5.991 million; Northern Marianas College, $3.955 million; the Department of Public Works, $3.155 million; the Department of Lands and Natural Resources, $2.722 million; and the Department of Public Safety, $2.124 million.
The projected figure, however is still slightly lower than the amount of federal grants the CNMI is due to receive for fiscal year 2002, which is $51.799 million.
However, Commerce Secretary Fermin M. Atalig said the projected amount for the next fiscal year will still increase.
Atalig said the CNMI has also applied for $10 million worth of Economic Development Administration grants.
The application was filed last week and is currently awaiting approval from the Honolulu-based EDA office, which is under the U.S. Department of Commerce.
