Gov. Arnold I. Palacios, right, speaks to the Commonwealth Ports Authority members and other officials during a CPA board meeting on Tuesday in the Aircraft Rescue and Firefighting classroom at the Francisco C. Ada/Saipan International Airport.
GOVERNOR Arnold I. Palacios attended the Commonwealth Ports Authority board of directors meeting on Tuesday to discuss some of the challenges and opportunities facing the CNMI government.
He said he also wanted to hear about CPA’s plan to improve airport and seaport facilities and help promote tourism, which has yet to return to its pre-pandemic levels.
Palacios noted the need to improve airport facilities, adding that airline companies have also complained about the “very high” cost of flying to Saipan, which makes it less appealing than other regional destinations.
In an interview, the governor said he was not sure why previous CPA boards “had this sense that it was not their job to go out and look for airlines.”
He said airlines bring in revenue to the Commonwealth, and this is why he is reaching out to potential tourism markets to try to revitalize and reinvigorate the island’s only industry, tourism.
“We just can’t lie around and hope that things will fall into place for us. We have to make sure that we also make the effort,” Palacios said.
In his meeting with the CPA board, the governor also discussed the infrastructure projects of the U.S. military, which include significant improvements to the Tinian harbor.
He said the CNMI should also ask the Department of Defense to help rehabilitate the ports on Rota and Saipan.
“Those are the things that we really have to look at,” he told the CPA board.
