Cruz takes issue with questions about $11M Tinian power project

Rep. Vincent Seman Aldan (D-Saipan) described Thursday as “very disturbing and [is a] triple redundancy” an $11 million underground power cables project on Tinian, which Sen. Francisco Q. Cruz (R-Tinian) did not appreciate and described as an interference, insisting that the island needs the project because of strong typhoons.

At a joint public hearing by the Senate and House Public Utilities, Transportation, and Communications committees in the Senate chamber, Northern Marianas Housing Corp. deputy corporate director Zenie P. Mafnas also stated that the Commonwealth Utilities Corp. has found the power underground cable project on Tinian to be critical and that if they reprogram any monies intended for that project, there is a high risk that the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development will take back the $11 million.

Later in the hearing, Aldan, who chairs the House PUTC committee, apologized if there is a misunderstanding and stated that he is not attacking or going against the second senatorial district, or Tinian. He said it’s just the project “seems out of…[priority].” Shortly before the committees adjourned, Aldan again apologized; he said there were a lot of confusing questions and misunderstandings.

Aldan and Senate PUTC Committee chair Sen. Paul A. Manglona (Ind-Rota) presided over the joint public hearing with NMHC officials regarding the status of the projects under the $243.9 million Community Development Block Grant-Disaster Recovery grant agreement.

During the discussions, Aldan said he is sure that NMHC could use that $11 million somewhere else instead of giving somebody the “luxury of triple redundancy.”

“It’s just doesn’t make any sense. An $11 million is a lot of money that could go to other projects that are more critical,” Aldan said.

Vincent Seman Aldan and Francisco Q. Cruz

He said that, according to his “sources,” there are already concrete power poles at a certain location on Tinian and that those buildings where the underground power cables are to be installed already have backup generators.

“It does not make sense to me how an underground power cable would benefit a building that already has a backup generator. You got an above[ground] cable, an underground cable, and a backup generator that would only benefit this certain location,” Aldan said.

He urged NMHC to have their inspectors take a look at this project “because it’s a triple redundancy.”

Aldan said his “sources” told him that, according to the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the project is not eligible for a grant under FEMA because it is not a critical infrastructure.

“It’s kind of like a waste of money,” he said.

That’s more of a CUC question since NMHC is just a funding source, according to Kimo Rosario, who is the CNMI CDBG-DR Planning and Program Support program manager. “We don’t determine which projects…have…a priority for them,” Rosario pointed out.

Mafnas said they have met with Tinian leadership probably 10 times, as Tinian being the most impacted and most distressed area as a result of Super Typhoon Yutu’s devastation in 2018.

“We’ve had engineers go out, we’ve had engineers walked through. But no one knows more than the Tinian leadership themselves,” she said.

Mafnas said they held public hearings on the project, solicited public comments, and have not received any complaint against the project.

She disclosed that they met with the CUC deputy director and his engineers and utility head last week, and that they reiterated to her how critical the project is when she asked again because they have been hearing these types of comments that Aldan has raised.

“Since three years ago, we’ve been soliciting for comments and we’ve had walkthroughs again with engineers,” Mafnas said.

She pointed out that this is not as simple as asking HUD to give them $11 million and they will fund the project.

“There is a lot of hard work that went into this,” Mafnas added.

Cruz said this has been a discussion for many years and if there is a redundancy issue, CUC will not support this one. Cruz said Tinian was severely hit by Yutu and as a result, the Tinian leadership decided to have underground power cables only for those areas to have communication, for shelter, and distribution center.

“We’re not distributing the entire Tinian with that underground cable. It’s only for that purpose,” the senator pointed out.

Cruz said when disaster comes, it does not matter whether there are concrete power poles, as those will fall.

“But I don’t appreciate [this], Mr. Chairman—a different senatorial precinct going against another precinct. We must help one another,” he said.

Cruz said they never interfere with any senatorial district, but rather work together to help the community.

The senator said he thought that they were there for the joint hearing to alleviate some of the hardship and see how they can push the project forward and not delay and kill time and lose the money.

“How can this move forward when we’re also against the project?” Cruz asked.

Aldan said it has come to his attention that some of the buildings that will be benefitting from this underground cables are privately owned. “I wonder who own those private buildings that will be benefitting from this underground cable that costs $11 million? And if this is not considered a redundancy,” Aldan said.

Cruz said this project is for the Tinian command center, the hospital, disaster shelter, and the distribution center. “It is not [going to] benefit, as you stated, the private sector,” the senator said.

Aldan and Manglona then called for a recess at the request of Rep. Marissa Flores (Ind-Saipan).

The hearing resumed after a few minutes. Cruz did not return. Aldan apologized “for the misunderstanding” that he’s attacking another senatorial district.

Before Cruz made his statements and in response to Aldan’s concerns, Sen. Jude U. Hofschneider (R-Tinian) said it’s appropriate that CUC has to sit before them at the hearing. He said the amount is substantial but they wouldn’t be getting $250 million and change if the project is not going to cost that much.

“And if the concern is the redundancy and all that, I think we need to bring in CUC and allow them to answer some of the questions,” the senator said.

Hofschneider pointed out that members of the Tinian Legislative Delegation see the need for that project. “I think the issue with us here in the CNMI is we’re reactionary sometimes. We should be having underground power lines on Saipan for that matter,” he said.