CUC sets more consultations on water project

Apparently not satisfied with previous public hearings on the proposed water desalination plant on Saipan, the Commonwealth Utilities Corporation will hold additional town meetings to find out whether it will forge ahead with the costly project.

CUC officials said they still need to get more input from island residents on the proposal which, although seen to address perennial water shortage in central Saipan, it will cost the government-owned utility firm some $100 million in the next 20 years.

“It’s a very expensive solution to the water problem,” said CUC Executive Director Timothy P. Villagomez. “But I don’t want to put a price into that because we do not know it. If this is a solution to a problem, then let’s zoom into that.”

Board members agreed in a meeting yesterday to conduct at least two more public hearings in the next few months after two previous discussions failed to drum up clear support from residents and local leaders.

Many villagers have frowned on the cost-sharing scheme being proposed by CUC in which they will have to pay 10 times more than their present water bills to finance the desalination facility.

But legislators, apparently frustrated over the slow pace in the decision-making, have vowed to provide subsidy and help push the project.

According to Rep. David Apatang, chair of the House committee on Public Utilities, Transportation and Communications, the legislature had asked CUC to hold the hearings to know possible environmental impact.

As for the costs, “we want to see what measures we can do to reduce them,” he told in an interview after attending the CUC meeting

Rep. Heinz Hofschneider earlier has prodded utility officials to move ahead with the plan in light of the water problems facing residents of Precinct 3, pledging to work out a financing scheme that will reduce financial obligation of CUC.

The desalination plant, which will process potable water from the surrounding ocean, is viewed to solve acute water shortages in Garapan, Gualo Rai and China Town, that have been compounded in recent months by the drought spawned by the El Nino weather phenomenon.

Under a build-operate-transfer scheme offered by Earth Tech, the U.S. water technology and engineering firm will construct the plant for $10 million which will then produce some 3 million gallons of water every day for purchase by CUC at $5 million annually.

Utility officials had sought opinion of residents since last March, but they were mixed whether they are willing to shoulder the operations cost through higher water rates.

According to Villagomez, the forthcoming hearings will involve other government agencies such as the Division of Environmental Quality to answer queries on the water problem on the island.

He shrugged off charges that they are dragging their feet on the plan for the last two years, saying “if we had entered into contract last year and we don’t have the means to pay this thing, we will be in court right now.”