Best Sunshine meets with CUC, NMTI

Best Sunshine International Ltd. met with representatives of the Northern Marianas Technical Institute and Commonwealth Utilities Corp. to get an overview of the CNMI workforce and electricity costs.

Best Sunshine’s chief operating officer Terence Tay met with NMTI education director Vic Cepeda and NMTI board of directors chair John Gonzales and discussed the institute’s capability to supply the islands’ workforce.

“We have to plan, bring in the instructors, and have to note in three years’ time we need the people so that when they come out they have a job and they have the right skills that they need,” Tay said. “We also need to focus on the trade aspects.”

According to Gonzales, they don’t have a friendly timeline and that they must move forward prior to the deadline of the CW program’s extension on December 2019.

“We should not wait for the federal government, local government, or local investors to tell it to us. We must decide for ourselves that NMTI is the ideal institution and strategically poised to turn around the economy because we are not dealing with a five-year deadline. I am thinking three years, so we must have a portion of the workforce [ready],” Gonzales said.

Gonzales noted that they will be introducing legislation that will turn NMTI into a charter institution “that will pave the way for federal funding and philanthropic funding to come to NMTI.”

Gonzales told Tay that all investments that would go through NMTI would go back to the community “if double or not triple in terms of building local capacity.”

“Our best bet in lucrative investment is in human resources,” Gonzales said.

He also noted that the some of the institute’s programs range from three months to two years.

“I think it’s a win-win situation when we partner together because we tailor and customize technical boot camp classes and instructions,” Gonzales told Tay.

Tay said that if the integrated resort comes into action, they will have to see how many people they will need and they will have projections for the amount of workers that will be needed.

Best Sunshine also met with CUC executive director Alan Fletcher, legal counsel James Sirok, and chief financial officer Charles Warren to talk about the costs of electricity in the CNMI and ways to lower the rates.

“The reason for the meeting was for us to understand what the challenges they are facing, how it is affecting the people of the CNMI, and how they bring in diesel and the consequences of that utilization,” said Tay.

Best Sunshine chief operating officer Terence Tay discusses public transportation and workforce development with Northern Marianas Technical Institute education director Vic Cepeda, center, and NMTI’s board of directors chair John Gonzales. (Jayson Camacho)

Fletcher told Tay about CUC’s integrated resource plan, while Tay talked about the importance of ways to save on energy costs in the CNMI. Other discussions included the use of LED lights and how important it is in saving energy.

Tay said they will help bring the cost of electricity down through community outreach programs if they are chosen as the sole casino license holders

“One of the main community outreach is to discuss how to lower the utilization of utilities within their homes, businesses, and organizations and how it will help reduce costs,” Tay said.

Tay told Saipan Tribune that as part of the community chest (which is a plan that Best Sunshine will do for the community) they will discuss matters on solar and wind energy and ways to lower energy costs.