Speed up Saipan power project

The chair of the House Committee on Public Utilities, Transportation and Communications has urged the Commonwealth Utilities Corporation to act quickly on the controversial 80-megawatt power plant on Saipan.

Rep. Rosiky F. Camacho said that while he doesn’t think the CUC board is too slow in making decisions, the project has been delayed long enough that a lot of opportunities have been wasted in the past three years.

“I’m afraid that as we continue to postpone this project, the costs continue to rise and risks continue to mount, while the possibility of power outage becomes even more frequent as what we have been experiencing now,” he told in an interview Friday.

His statement comes as his committee meets today with the board directors of the government-owned utility corporation, led by its chair Jesus T. Guerrero, to ask for the status of the power project.

The discussion will be the first planned on the new power plant by the House committee following the board’s decision to hire a battery of lawyers and power consultants in preparation for forthcoming negotiations with Enron.

The Texas-based conglomerate was granted a conditional award of the estimated $120 million contract, but a final deal is not expected to be reached until after the negotiations are done before the yearend, according to utility officials.

Although steps have been taken by the board to ensure they are complying with the law that set the conditions for the procurement of the 80-MW plant, Mr. Camacho believed that these are not enough.

“They should make decisions and let’s start moving this project,” he explained. “We don’t want another legislation to tell the board when to build this power plant.”

Recent actions

During its recent meeting, the board agreed to hire lawyers on and off-island as well as power experts to help them push the project, specifically in reaching an agreement with Enron such as costs and purchase price.

CUC has earmarked over $500,000 to get on board people from Hong Kong-based law firm Fulbright & Jaworski, and local legal services of attorneys Brien Sers Nicholas, Robert T. Torres and Antonio S. Cabrera as well as Senate legal counsel Steve Woodruff.

The board also approved extension of consultation services being provided by power experts from the Kansas City-based Burns & McDonnell to draw up scheme on the phasing in of the 60-MW plant based on the law’s requirements.

Mr. Guerrero has said that these latest decisions would allow the board to focus on the negotiation process as they hope to ground break the project by December this year.

He also disclosed that CUC had drafted its response to two protests lodged by losing bidders who are opposed to its choice of Enron in an effort to clear potential obstacles to the project.

However, apparently unimpressed by these actions, the PUTC chair challenged the board to “get their act together,” and if they couldn’t, to resign from the policy-making body.

“Just because he’s new as board chairman, that doesn’t mean he cannot move things fast,” Mr. Camacho said, referring to Mr. Guerrero. “If he can’t do the job, then somebody else can do the job.”

He added: “I am not saying that they are too slow, but they need to meet more often and work harder… You are asked to do the task. If you are not willing to do it, get out.”

The power project has come under a storm of protests since June 1998 following several missteps, including initial decision to award the lucrative contract to Marubeni-Sithe and the move to cut down the size of the plant.

Lawmakers intervened early this year to force CUC to reinstate the original plan, which had called for the installation of the 80-MW plant through build-operate-transfer scheme for the next 25 years.