Cancellation of project sends “dangerous message” – Manglona

Lawmakers yesterday vowed to press their investigation into the controversial decision by the Commonwealth Utilities Corporation to abandon the 80-megawatt power plant for Saipan as they expressed concerns on the island’s economic future.

Leaders of the Senate and the House of Representatives discussed in joint meeting the proposed oversight hearing, although specific plans are expected to be tackled in upcoming meetings within the next few weeks.

Senate President Paul A. Manglona said that while the governor is open to meeting with CUC officials and members of the Legislature on the issue, they need to address fears on potential power shortage and impact of the decision to scrap the project to the investment climate here.

Echoing the concerns aired earlier by the Saipan Chamber of Commerce, he believed that the government is sending a “dangerous” message to potential investors about how business is being conducted in the CNMI.

Mr. Manglona said bidders to the project spent money to prepare their proposals, only to end up with nothing after three years of hoping to get the contract.

“It’s a message to the bidders that we don’t really care about the costs they incurred. But in the future, how can we get people interested in doing business with the Commonwealth, giving us good and reliable bids so that we can have a project at reasonable cost,” he told reporters in an interview after the closed-door meeting.

His statement came despite attempts by CUC officials to justify their decision to cancel the initial request for proposal for the 80-MW plant and send the entire project into a new round of bidding, citing worsening economic crisis that has pulled down power load on Saipan. (see related story)

CUC Board Chair Rosario M. Elameto has welcomed any investigation into its actions, while Executive Director Timothy P. Villagomez has said he wants to work with the Legislature to ensure the project will push through in much smaller scale.

He also assured businessmen that the cancellation was intended to save the government-owned utility corporation from potential bankruptcy since it will entail millions of dollars in expenditures every year without guaranteed revenues.

“But again this whole thing is about providing more megawatts for the people of Saipan,” explained Mr. Manglona. “I think this is such a lengthy process and in the end, people are suffering. They have been waiting for this new added generation capacity.”

The Senate leader disclosed that they may come up with legislation to scrap altogether the RFP procurement process and just rely on direct bidding in order to get the lowest priced bid.

CUC said they expect to start the new round of bidding for a 60-MW plant within the next few months to begin its construction as soon as possible.