Senate President Edith Deleon Guerrero, Sen. Frank Cruz, and Sen. Paul A. Manglona listen to Office of Planning and Development engineer Mariano Iglesias during a Senate session on Friday.
Office of Planning and Development engineer Mariano Iglesias appears before the Seante on Friday.
THE Senate on Monday passed its own version of House Bill 23-77 that would authorize a revolving line of credit between the CNMI government and the Marianas Public Land Trust. The bill now returns to the House of Representatives.
Senate President Edith Deleon Guerrero, Sens. Paul A. Manglona, Jude U. Hofschneider, Frank Q. Cruz, Karl King-Nabors and Dennis Mendiola voted to approve the bill after amending it.
They agreed, among other things, to strike out the language that pledges MPLT’s interest income due to the general fund as guaranteed payment.
Deleon Guerrero said they removed this provision in consideration of Senate Legislative Initiative 23-1, which the Senate passed in June, requiring MPLT to deposit the interest of public land income to a Northern Marianas Descent account, which “shall be used strictly for the benefit of NMDs through legislative appropriations.”
Also present during the Senate session were Finance Secretary Tracy B. Norita, Office of Planning and Development Director Elizabeth Balajadia, PE and OPD engineer Mariano Iglesias, who answered questions regarding the projects for which the MPLT loan will be used.
Balajadia told the senators that in order to draw down funds from the grants awarded by the U.S. Department of Commerce-Economic Development Administration, the CNMI government has to show proof of payment to the contractors of federally funded infrastructure projects.
She said these projects include the revitalization of the Garapan tourism district, specifically the construction work at Paseo De Marianas, which Iglesias said is on hold right now due to lack of local funds to pay the contractor.
For economic recovery
In a statement to Variety on Monday, the governor reiterated that “the line of credit will help to greatly assist in expediting important capital improvement projects, including much-needed infrastructure projects, that will ultimately benefit the current and future generations of CNMI residents.”
These projects, he said, will also create job opportunities, help accelerate economic recovery efforts, and further enhance the CNMI as a tourist destination.
He said the CNMI government has been awarded approximately $99.3 million in capital improvement and broadband infrastructure projects, ranging from new government facilities to infrastructure revitalization.
Palacios said project financing is necessary as grants are on a reimbursement basis, requiring the CNMI government to front the cost.
“This poses a risk for significant delays in the project due to the general funds’ current financial stress,” he said.
Project financing “would facilitate prompt progress payments to construction contractors to stimulate materials purchase, and speed up the completion of the project while boosting revenue generation for tax collections,” he added.
At risk
Iglesias, who used to be an engineer for the Economic Development Administration’s Seattle Regional Office, urged the senators to pass H.B. 23-77 because “other options will greatly set the CNMI back, or worse, default on its grants terms and conditions.”
“We cannot afford to let these grants default. A lot of work went into these grants, and a lot of people have helped the CNMI along the way,” Iglesias said.
He said of the $190 million appropriated by the U.S. Congress for disaster recovery, $96 million went to the CNMI.
Projects were developed and designed to provide the CNMI with economic recovery infrastructure that was decimated during Super Typhoon Yutu, Iglesias added. Once completed, the impact from these projects would be immediate and will benefit not only Saipan but the entire CNMI as well, he said.
