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Power privatization plan revived anew
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Posted on Mar 29 2006
The Fitial administration said it is considering the possible privatization of power generation on Saipan as a means to solve the island’s power crisis.
Press secretary Charles Reyes, Jr. said the administration is looking at possibly privatizing Saipan’s power generation—whether completely or partially—but no decision has been made regarding those options yet.
Reyes made the statement when asked about the administration’s stance on the offer of Telesource CNMI Inc. to buy out all of Saipan’s power generation assets and take over their operations.
“No decision has been made on the Telesource offer yet. It’s being considered along with other options,” Reyes said.
Reyes said the government has also received similar offers from other companies.
Telesource has asked the Fitial administration to negotiate with the company over the latter’s offer to buy out the cash-strapped government’s power plants and other power generation assets on Saipan.
Telesource chief executive officer and president Nidal Zayed said the power crisis is one that needs a quick solution as the fate of the CNMI’s economic recovery relies on this. The company’s proposal deviates from the government’s normal procurement procedure, which is usually a bid process.
Zayed justified, however, that a possibly contested and protracted bidding process will not be in the best interest of the CNMI. “If the Saipan power plant suffers a tragic breakdown, a very possible outcome based on the current state of affairs, the entire CNMI will suffer immeasurably and the time to recover from such a tragedy will be long and extremely painful,” Zayed said.
Zayed said Telesource will immediately draft a memorandum of understanding once the government considers the proposed buyout.
