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MPLA and House meeting on Pagan postponed
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Posted on Nov 26 2004
The Marianas Public Lands Authority board asked the House of Representatives yesterday to have their scheduled meeting on the Pagan mining issue be postponed, saying not all of its board members were available to meet with the lawmakers.
House leadership spokesman Charles Reyes Jr. said the MPLA requested that the meeting be reset to Friday next week. It is not known yet if the meeting would be open to the public.
The House, Reyes said, had asked the MPLA board for a meeting in view of the board’s ongoing evaluation on the pending permit application of Azmar International to mine pozzolan on Pagan Island in the Northern Islands.
“The [House] members want to be familiarized with the process. They want to discuss issues surrounding the mining application,” said Reyes.
Earlier, House Speaker Benigno R. Fitial called on MPLA to do an independent audit of Azmar International’s finances amid doubts about its financial standing. He said the audit must be done by a third party to ensure neutrality but its cost should be shouldered by Azmar.
The Speaker also said that he is personally against granting any further extension of the deadline for Azmar to meet requirements since it had failed to provide the requested documents before the initial 60-day deadline.
Other members of the chamber have also expressed reservation over the Azmar proposal.
Fitial said that, since MPLA has continued to entertain Azmar’s application despite “numerous missteps,” MPLA should at least insist that an independent audit of Azmar’s financial statement be conducted at Azmar’s expense.
Meantime, the MPLA board agreed last week to have a 15-day negotiation with Azmar in connection with its permit application. Both parties agreed to keep the negotiation under wraps.
