House prioritizes CIP appropriation

The House of Representatives will prioritize for appropriation the next batch of capital improvement projects currently being drawn up by the Tenorio administration, Speaker Diego T. Benavente assured on Friday.

He said some “technical amendments” to the initial CIP bill will be made to ensure funds for projects on Rota and Tinian which will comprise the second partial allocation of some $154 million in available federal and local funds.

But Senate Floor leader Pete P. Reyes, echoing dismay by his colleagues on the line-item veto on the initial bill, raised fear that passage of the second list in the upper house may face strong opposition.

Mike Sablan, chair of the CIP task force, is expected to meet with House Ways and Means Committee chair Karl T. Reyes this week to draft the new proposal, including projects that are not part of the master plan the government body mapped out last year.

This will represent the next batch of projects funded under Section 702 of the Covenant which needs to be matched with local money before they are spent on specific infrastructure development plan of the CNMI government.

While Gov. Pedro P. Tenorio signed the measure into law last month setting aside funds for the new prison on Saipan and the completion of Marianas High School Gymnasium, he vetoed several provisions, including projects for Rota and Tinian, in fear it would compromise the integrity of the master plan.

“We are awaiting at this time the CIP proposal from the governor and once that is received here, I will attempt to call a session as soon as we can (to pass the measure),” Benavente said in an interview.

The Senate is not likely to hasten approval of the forthcoming proposal in view of the administration’s rejection of several pet projects that senators had inserted at the last minute.

“I know that there will be a certain degree of cautiousness in the Senate when we deliberate on the next partial list of CIP projects,” Reyes explained in a separate interview.

Although he refused to cast blame on the outcome of the initial bill, the senator said this is the pervading reaction in the Senate “because of the mistrust felt by members.”

According to Reyes, this could have been avoided if administration officials made “prior arrangement to the Legislature to participate” in the drafting of the master plan.

Under review for nearly a year, the list was drawn up by the task force in consultation with members of the Legislature, including representatives from the three senatorial districts.

The group had originally received more than $600 million worth of projects, but the list was whittled down to 50 priority projects on Saipan, Rota and Tinian to meet the funding level.

The federal government will provide $77 million to the CNMI on the condition island officials come up with matching funds for each project.

Benavente remains upbeat that the next batch of projects would get enough support. “I would foresee that we would pass the bill, Rota and Tinian would get the funds that they have requested for, of course, with the proper procedures of the disbursement of those funds.”

Considered a major effort to spur the slumping economy, appropriation of the CIP funds has ran roughshod in the Legislature due to “political considerations,” according to observers.