THE Commonwealth Development Authority and the Commonwealth Utilities Corp. concluded their settlement negotiations yesterday.
Both parties agreed during a meeting at the Legislature to settle CUC’s $106 million debt to CDA.
House Speaker Heinz S. Hofschneider, R-Saipan, and House Committee on Public Utilities, Transportation and Communications Chairman Joseph P. Deleon Guerrero, R-Saipan, were present in the meeting.
The details of the settlement were not made public, however. CDA Executive Director Marylou Ada and CUC Executive Director Bernard P. Villagomez refused to disclose the nature of the settlement.
“Both parties have concluded their issues,” Hofschneider told reporters yesterday.
“We are on third base heading home now,” Deleon Guerrero said.
A settlement agreement is being finalized for both CUC and CDA to sign, but it will only take effect upon the passage of two bills to be introduced by Deleon Guerrero.
The bills would sanction the settlement agreement.
The House of Representatives will hold a special session to expedite the passage of the measures.
After the settlement is signed, the Office of the Insular Affairs will be notified. “The money for the loan came from the U.S. Interior Department,” Hofschneider said.
Deleon Guerrero did not confirm if CDA waived the interest on CUC’s loan which was originally $51.6 million.
“That was part of the negotiations, but it cannot be disclosed,” Guerrero said.
Hofschneider said CDA “bent over backwards” to settle the issue. Without CDA’s “willingness,” there would have been no settlement, he added.
The speaker at the same time said the negotiations “took off dramatically” because of the administration’s “healthy support.”
