Public Law 15-42 established the task force, which is comprised of government and public entities, to develop, construct, and maintain the commonwealth’s infrastructure.
Speaker Arnold I. Palacios, R-Saipan, informed the governor about Benavente’s appointment on Monday.
Palacios at the same time said the House is ready to assist the task force in developing, adopting and implementing an infrastructure plan for the CNMI.
“The infrastructure of the commonwealth continues to develop and grow but resources are scarce — therefore, the government and the private sector must work cooperatively to ensure that our infrastructure can sustain our present and future needs,” Palacios said in his letter to the governor.
In an interview yesterday, Benavente, R-Saipan, said their first order of business is to “meet and see if this is really practical,” referring to the creation of the task force.
Benavente, the chairman of the House Committee on Federal and Foreign Relations, said the task force is “a good idea but I am not sure at this point whether it is practical or not.”
The former lt. governor said there are a lot of pending infrastructure projects in the commonwealth and listing all of them and determining which needs to be prioritized may not work at this time.
“Whether it is sewer, treatment facilities on Rota and Tinian, solid waste or landfill projects, road improvements and others — there are so many projects that are still pending on our islands,” he added.
