This was according to CUC Executive Director Antonio Muna, who was the guest speaker at the recent Saipan Rotary Club meeting.
“Privatization is a very sensitive issue and everybody has to fit in to the concept before we can move on to that direction,” Muna said.
“From my standpoint, the answer to CUC’s problems is in privatization because a private company wouldn’t have to go through all the processes that CUC is going through right now,” he added.
Muna noted that CUC’s contract with Aggreko contract was finalized in June 19.
“We secured the funding for the contract by the first week of July, but it was stalled in the Legislature. This is something we have to deal with in the process,” Muna said.
He added that a private company won’t have to go through such a lengthy process.
“Private companies could just call in some experts and bring in equipment that works and nobody will have a say in the matter,” Muna said.
But privatization is a policy call that must be approved by the executive and legislative branches of government, and “everybody must be at the same table and working with the same mindset,” he added.
In 2007, he noted, three companies with good financial capital and a vast experience in power production expressed interest in CUC but the procurement process proved difficult for them.
“Our current procurement laws open up a lot of venues that put all the efforts we have exerted to a halt, so there is a need for the policymakers to be on the same page,” Muna said.
