TINIAN Chamber of Commerce Secretary Neal Eisgrou said the ongoing military construction on Tinian should benefit local businesses.
Eisgrou told Variety that he and other Tinian chamber officials met last week with Pacific Air Forces Strategy, Plans, Programs and Requirements Director Brig. Gen. Brian S. Laidlaw to discuss the concerns of local businesses.
Eisgrou said in the meeting, the Tinian chamber stressed the need for the military to acquire services from local businesses and buy some construction supplies that are available on island so that local businesses on Tinian can also earn income.
He said if the high cost of labor is one of the reasons the military chose a U.S-based company, “then that needs to change.”
“We cannot keep up with the continental U.S. The prevailing wages [here] keep increasing. Wages cannot be increased unless there is growth. Otherwise, it will just spur inflation, which is the enemy of tourism, and is bad for our senior citizens, and bad for the CNMI,” Eisgrou said.
He acknowledged that certain military projects that were awarded to a local company “took a long time to get started,” because, he said, “we had concerns like the environment, and the effect on the local roads.”
“But we are past that, and ready to build now,” he said.
Eisgrou believes that the CNMI has the capability to complete military construction projects on Tinian.
He said local companies “need to get their fair share” of infrastructure developments on Tinian.
