Senate holds first session on Tinian

The Senate will hold its first regular session tomorrow on Tinian to pass at least three priority measures, including legislation that will allow phased-in construction of the much delayed Saipan power project and prevent re-bidding by the Commonwealth Utilities Corporation.

Another bill will repeal the $100,000 security deposit imposed by the government on foreign investments, a requirement derided by the private sector as an obstacle to the island’s economic growth.

Senators will also push fresh legislation to revive proposal to amend the “public purpose” law which did not go through during the previous Legislature due to conflicting positions by both houses.

The session will also see the swearing in of newly-elected Sen. Jose M. Dela Cruz to replace former Sen. Herman M. Manglona who resigned last September from the Senate after he pled guilty to bribery and mail fraud charges filed by the U.S. government in the federal court.

According to Senate President Paul A. Manglona, the three bills will be passed to immediately hand them down to the House of Representative for action during its first regular session on Feb. 14.

He said, however, legislators are still working on a new scholarship program that will reduce government subsidy and provide CNMI-guaranteed educational loans to students.

Senate Floor Leader Pete P. Reyes, on the other hand, said he is set to introduce the bill on the power project providing flexibility for the government-owned utility corporation to phase in the original 80-megawatt plant.

“This particular bill is to moot the action of the [CUC] board to collapse it,” he told reporters in an interview, noting that this move never got inputs from the public in violation of the Open Government Act.

“This will prevent re-bidding of the project,” said Mr. Reyes, who has been very vocal about his displeasure over CUC’s decision to lower the plant’s capacity to 60 MW despite objections by some members of the Legislature.

The legislation will be similar to the initial measure that Mr. Reyes filed in the previous Legislature, but never passed the House, in which it had sought to forbid CUC from scaling back the project.

Utility officials said last month that they would be forced to undertake a new round of bidding for the smaller plant as CUC’s procurement regulations do not allow inserting modifications after an evaluation has been conducted.

Independent consultants from Burns & McDonnell recommended the size of the plant and the CUC board voted to nullify the initial request for proposals, effectively voiding the proposals offered by top bidders Enron, Tomen Consortium and HEI/SPP.