Legislature to use $439.8K ARPA funding to have own power generator
The CNMI Legislature is expected to soon have its own electric power generator building and fuel tank using $439,800 in American Rescue Plan Act funding.
Legislative Bureau director Perry John P. Tenorio said yesterday that the project to build a generator building, a fuel tank, and upgrade the legislative building’s electrical system started in October 2022.
The project stopped in April 2023 and restarted this month, Tenorio said, and is set to be completed within 180 days. He did not indicate why it was stopped last April.
When asked why the Legislature needs to have its own power generator, Tenorio said that power outages still happen from time to time despite the significant gains the Commonwealth Utilities Corp. has made in providing stable power on Saipan.
At the same time, he said, extended power disruptions caused by natural disasters are still very real.
As to how much power it will produce, he deferred the question to their project manager, Roman Demapan. He said the Legislature will maintain the generator.
Roman Demapan, project manager for the CNMI Legislature’s project to have an electric power generator building, left, tells a contractor about the need to have a smaller tank aside from the big fuel tank as specified in the project’s design last Thursday. The project is expected to be completed within 180 days.
-FERDIE DE LA TORRE
