By Emmanuel T. Erediano
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Variety News Staff
LOCAL businessman Del Benson told senators on Tuesday that the CNMI is a difficult place to do business.
He was commenting on Senate Bill 24-52, which topped the agenda of the Senate Committee on Resources, Economic Development and Workforce meeting.
“The CNMI is really — and I hate to tell you this — a bad place to do business. You can’t even get paid if you do work for the government. And there is a lot of dishonesty in that,” said Benson, who is also running for a House seat in Precinct 3.
Authored by Sen. Manny Gregory T. Castro, S.B. 24-52 seeks to authorize the Commonwealth Economic Development Authority to use its preferred dividend funds to attract investors to the CNMI, as mandated by Public Law 22-1.
Benson noted that the Department of Commerce is doing some things well. However, he added, “Let’s be real. Government people are not entrepreneurs.”
He said the Commonwealth should work with CEDA and hire entrepreneurs as independent contractors on a commission basis to help attract investors to the CNMI.
Although what CEDA is trying to do is somewhat different, Benson said, “we need to have a little integrity with the businesses we bring into the CNMI.”
“To bring businesses into the CNMI, we need a vibrant private economy. To do that, we have to provide incentives that attract people and businesses to our islands,” he said.
Benson said he would recommend that CEDA consider identifying entrepreneurs who are willing to undertake this type of work.
Present at the meeting were committee chair and Senate Vice President Corina Magofna, Sen. Manny Castro, Sen. Frank Q. Cruz, and Sen. Ronnie Calvo, who attended via videoconference.
Emmanuel “Arnold” Erediano has a bachelor of science degree in Journalism. He started his career as police beat reporter. Loves to cook. Eats death threats for breakfast.
