Senator to lobby for support of CIP bill

The Senate is likely to rush passage of a crucial legislation appropriating close to $23 million for several capital improvement projects in the Northern Marianas which is seen as potential catalyst to steer the local economy from the deepening crisis.

According to Senate Floor leader Pete P. Reyes, he would lobby other members of the upper house to pass the measure in its entirety to allow the government to immediately tap millions of dollars in federal funding for the massive infrastructure project.

The bill was passed last week by the House of Representatives in a move to set in motion the recently drafted CIP master plan that has identified 50 priority projects on Saipan, Rota and Tinian at a cost of $154 million in both federal and commonwealth funds up to year 2002.

Among the first batch of projects to receive funding boost include the new dumpsite in Marpi, a new prison and other improvement plans on existing facilities on the three islands.

“Hopefully, we will have no change to it,” Reyes said in an interview. “It is something that we are excited to see and go through quickly so that we can jump-start the economy here.”

The senator underscored the need to act on the pending legislation in view of a proposed cut in CIP funding by Washington to the CNMI by next year.

“We are trying to do whatever sacrifices we need to make in order to find the matching funds,” Reyes said.

Administration officials maintain they are trying to source local funds to match the federal grants before they can mobilize all these money which will help spur the economy at a time when the tourism industry is suffering from the fallout of the prolonged Asian crisis.

The island government has come under fire in the last three years for failure to set aside funding for CIP as provided in the matching requirement agreement — a move that has prompted White House to slash 51 percent from its grants for the next fiscal year.

CNMI leaders have pinned hopes on the $154 million funds guaranteed in the Covenant to revitalize the economy, but the money has been left idle due to the inability of the CNMI to meet the stringent matching requirement.

Washington has committed to allot $11 million each year beginning in 1996 until 2002 to the local government provided it allocates a dollar-for-dollar matching from its own coffers.