Senate Vice President Felix T. Mendiola, Covenant-Rota, said federalization will affect ongoing and future capital improvement projects while Sen. Jude U. Hofschneider, R-Tinian, believes that Tinian Dynasty will be hit hard by the law.
Mendiola in an interview, said GPPC Inc., a contractor of many infrastructure projects in the CNMI, has road projects on Rota.
The government is also in the process of bidding out more CIPs for Rota, he added.
Mendiola said 80 percent of the construction workers are nonresidents.
So when their number is reduced under the federalization law, “What are they going to do with these projects?” he asked.
The federal government, he said, is giving the CNMI funds to build infrastructure but “federal takeover will cut them up.”
The CNMI is gripped by economic crisis “but how do we circulate the money when you circumvent the contractors from doing their jobs that have already been awarded to them?”
Federalization will “rob” contractors of their guest workers, he added.
Mendiola fears that the plan to have a casino on Rota may be abandoned too due to the inability to hire guest workers.
Potential investors are now getting more cautious due to federalization, he added.
On Tinian, Hofschneider said federalization will deprive Tinian Dynasty of its skilled guest workers.
Under federalization, moreover, Chinese visitors will not be included in the visa waiver program.
Chinese visitors are among the major markets of Tinian Dynasty.
Hofschneider said he wants to stay optimistic, but he is also sure that the current and prospective investors are already having second thoughts about doing business on Tinian.
“They’re going to be concerned where to get their human resources,” he said.
