House OKs Senate changes to CIP bill

The House of Representatives is expected to pass in a session today the amendment on a legislation appropriating close to $23 million in capital improvement project funds in a bid to fast-track construction of a new prison on the island.

Members agreed yesterday to accept the amendment made by the Senate on House Bill 11-380, including revision of the CIP plan and increase in allocation to Rota and Tinian, so as not to derail the proposed correctional facility.

They will also support awarding a sole source contract on the prison as part of the efforts to immediately address alleged deplorable conditions in the Division of Corrections and a series of jailbreaks as well as the recent siege by inmates.

“We will accept the amendment because funding is needed right now for the prison,” House Speaker Diego T. Benavente told in an interview, adding the bill must head to the governor as soon as possible.

The measure was passed last month by the lower house, but the Senate voted on it only last week following an agreement to raise the share of both Rota and Tinian by an average of 75 percent as well as to take away funds from other projects, such as the new Marpi landfill and road improvement at Saipan International Airport.

Among the priority projects in the proposal are the improvement of the existing prison on Saipan and construction of the first phase of the new facility, both of which will cost $10 million; improvement of West Tinian airport and expansion of the Rota health center.

Tapping a portion of some $154 million in both federal and local funds for CNMI infrastructure development, the bill aims to steer the local economy from its worst crisis in years as a result of the recession in Asia, the island’s main source of tourism income and investments.

It represents the first batch of projects to be financed under the recently drafted CIP master plan which will use federal funds amounting to $77 million and an equivalent local matching in massive capital-intensive infrastructure on the three islands for the next three years.

Although the amendment included projects, like the Tinian airport expansion, which are not part of the master list, House Ways and Means Committee chair Rep. Karl T. Reyes, who sponsored the bill, said the allocation to each island will remain under the CIP funds.

“Whatever the changes are we will stick to that amount,” he said in a separate interview, noting both Rota and Tinian will get each get a total of $19.5 million for the duration of the plan.

“They want other projects to be funded. It’s their choice,” Reyes added.

Meanwhile, a House resolution urging Gov. Pedro P. Tenorio to expedite the construction of the new prison through sole source procurement as well as endorsing the Wackenhut Corporation as its contractor is set to be adopted during the session which starts at 9 a.m.

This will provide a quick-fix mechanism to the worsening problems besetting the DOC facilities, underscored by at least three jailbreaks in less than a year and the hostage incident last week that caused damages worth thousands of dollars.