Gov’t urged to move ahead with bond plans

As Asia’s financial crisis threaten to cripple businesses on the island, the CNMI government must immediately begin preparing to float bonds to jump-start the ailing tourism economy, said outgoing Saipan Chamber of Commerce president Joe Ayuyu.

Gov. Pedro P. Tenorio is still studying whether it will borrow money or float bonds to raise the local matching requirement for federal grants earmarked for the construction of key infrastructure projects in the Northern Marianas.

Amid declining revenues, the commonwealth is faced with the difficult task of looking for the much-needed money to be able to release the multi-million funds for Capital Improvement Projects under the Section 702.

“It is all we need to bring it to a level where there’s so much activity on the island again as well as put us back on the track. We need to infuse some new money into the economy and the implementation of infrastructure projects is the only way to do that since there are no new investors,” said Ayuyu.

Since the economic crisis in the region began, various businesses on the island, mostly high-end boutiques tourists have closed shop. Although Japanese tourists are still traveling to the CNMI, they have however, become more cautious about how they spend their money.

However, Ayuyu cautioned the government to be very careful in choosing various projects to be carried out by making sure that these are critical to the community such as better roads, waste system and other basic infrastructure facilities.

The CIP Task Force is still finalizing the list of projects to be included in the seven-year master plan to fit within the $154-million budget. Although the task force has already pruned down the list to 50 projects, it should further reduce the number since it is worth more than $300 million.

Funding for some $58 million worth of infrastructure projects that will be implemented within the next four years have been identified. Bulk of the amount will come from the $16 million loan the Public School System has secured from a US-based financial institution for the construction of schools on the island-municipalities of Saipan, Tinian and Rota.

This also include some $15 million in public land lease fees and $6 million in earned interests from bond accounts of the Commonwealth Development Authority will be tapped for the matching fund. The rest will be sourced from the various local fees.