Officials set framework of trade zone bill

The administration is rushing the drafting of a legislation that will set into motion the creation of the first free trade zone in the Northern Marianas, a plan that will attempt to diversify the tourism-based island economy.

The proposed measure will contain incentives to be extended to potential investors, the type of business that can be accommodated, as well as the site for the future free trade zone, according to Michael S. Sablan, chairman of the Economic Revitalization Task Force.

The draft, which is being prepared by the legal counsels of Gov. Pedro P. Tenorio and the Legislature, is expected to be submitted to the Free Trade Zone Subcommittee for review when it meets next week.

The year-long financial turmoil in Asia continues to ravage the fragile economy of CNMI largely dependent on tourism, which over the years has been a consistent provider of revenues for the government.

With the substantial decline in tourism, the financially-troubled government is taking the route of establishing a free trade zone to reboot the teetering economy and address the impending departure of the half-a-billion-dollar garment industry when trade barriers are brought down with the implementation of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade by the World Trade Organization beginning year 2003.

According to Sablan, laws that created free trade zones in the Philippines and Hawaii are being reviewed by the task force to see how these can help the commonwealth put forward its plan.

Yesterday the subcommittee met to discuss the possible sites where a free trade zone can be developed.

Sablan said the committee have previously discussed with the board members of the Commonwealth Ports Authority the possibility of using the port’s properties near the airport. Similar talks were done with the Board of Public Land to identify government lands in the Lower Base area.

CPA Executive Director Carlos H. Salas previously issued a memorandum advising the ports authority’s board of directors that the task force was seriously considering 20 hectares of land owned by the agency for the initial phase of the program.

In that memorandum, Salas said the subcommittee has identified 61 hectares of CPA lands for the industrial development out of the total 128 hectares of land near the airport that is available for lease.

The ports authority is hoping that with the completion of the $42 million Saipan Harbor Improvement Project in 1999, the free trade zone could make use of the expanded facility.