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House minority questions Agingan fund use
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Posted on Feb 09 2005
The House minority has expressed strong reservations over the proposed diversion of the Kagman wastewater project funds for the construction of the Agingan treatment plant.
While he supports the Agingan project, acting House minority leader Ray Tebuteb said he “is cautious” about using the money allotted for Kagman.
“I have very, very strong reservations to move money from Kagman to anywhere else. Kagman’s growing population is also a concern,” said Tebuteb.
Further, he said the Kagman funding is the same source for the $5.8 million in additional funding that would be used to complete the hemodialysis project on Saipan.
A bill, authored by Vice Speaker Timothy Villagomez, proposes to reprogram $3.3 million from the Kagman project for the urgent repair of the Agingan ocean outfall.
The bill must be approved before the end of the month. Otherwise, CUC would be slapped with a $35,000 daily fine for every violation cited by the Environmental Protection Agency.
Meantime, Tebuteb took exception to an earlier insinuation by the House leadership that passage of important bills, including the Agingan funding bill, was delayed because House minority members had boycotted a session scheduled last month.
“Why are we to blame? We didn’t know about it,” said Tebuteb, noting that the minority was never informed of the calendared bills ahead of time.
The House leadership had canceled a session in January for lack of attendance, mostly due to the absence of minority members. The leadership had wanted to act on the Agingan reprogramming bill, the proposed part-time legislature, and introduction and approval of Martin Luther King Day in the CNMI, among others.
“It’s unfortunate that the minority members overlooked the importance of these issues,” House Speaker Benigno R. Fitial had said.
