Rep. Teresita A. Santos, Ind.-Rota and chairwoman of the committee, said the island is blessed with high quality spring water.
Residents on Rota, she said, enjoy the convenience of having drinkable tap water.
Rota water can become a new industry and that is what the task force is looking into right now, she added.
In Nov. 2002, the CNMI government approved a package of tax relief and other incentives for SEPC (Rota) Spring Water Inc. which said it would construct a bottling plant on the island. In April 2003, however, the company announced that it would no longer proceed with its investment plan.
Yesterday, in a meeting with the Department of Public Lands Secretary Oscar M. Babauta, the task force discussed how Rota’s spring water can bring in additional government revenue.
Chaired by House Floor Leader George N. Camacho, Ind.-Saipan, the task force members are House Minority Leader Diego T. Benavente, R-Saipan, Rep. Ramon A. Tebuteb, R-Saipan, and Rep. Sylvester I. Iguel, Covenant-Saipan.
In a separate interview, Camacho said they are looking into possibility of developing a bottled drinking water industry on Rota.
He said there is an investor interested in the project.
Santos said the Legislature is also working on the measure that will tax bottled water on Rota.
This water, she said, is derived from private water wells.
Imposing a tax will ensure that the owner of public lands — the people of the commonwealth — benefit from the spring water.
The measure will also impose a tax on imported water.
