Reyes made the statement to Gregorio Cruz, the president of the TaoTao Tano Group, when he inquired about the status of CUC.
The governor declared under a state of emergency the CNMI for the 12th time last week, this time to lift the hiring restrictions on non-U.S. citizen professionals CUC.
The governor said the move is necessary to stabilize CUC’s operations because Aggreko’s temporary power generation contract will end on Sept. 12.
The latest 30-day extension of the declaration suspends the legislative restriction on government hiring of foreign workers.
By issuing the declaration, the governor said he intended to enable CUC, within the intent of Public Law 16-9, to continue to implement the temporary power contract which it signed.
“The purpose is to make the electric system as reliable as practicable, as soon as practicable, during the period of repair of CUC’s generators. I also intend that government leaders be kept informed as to the operation of the temporary power equipment into service,” the latest executive order declaring the CNMI under a state of emergency reads.
Reyes also said the privatization of CUC is a priority “because the government has clearly shown that it has not been effective in properly managing CUC, particularly under the past political board system.”
He stressed that the privatization project was derailed by the Office of Public Auditor and a “legislative opposition.”
When asked about the status of the possible lawsuit against DCM and EEI partnership for its failure to deliver the contract to CUC, Reyes said the contractor did not meet CUC’s expectations.
“Director Muna, to his credit, quickly and prudently moved to terminate the contract, cut losses, and settle all legal issues,” Reyes told Cruz.
He said the important thing is that CUC was able to salvage a situation and quickly moved to secure the Aggreko engines and repair CUC’s engines.
“This is real progress,” he said.
DCM Group and EEI’s partnership with CUC was severed after the firms failed to meet their contract obligations.
The DCM Group was awarded over $5 million on December 13, 2007 for the rehabilitation and repair of seven engines at Power Plant 1 within a 90-day period.
But it failed to deliver what was stipulated and agreed upon on their contract with CUC.
