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DOC lobbies against restriction on lagoon activities
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Posted on Sep 18 2000
The Department of Commerce has urged the House Committee on Public Utilities, Transportation and Communication to maintain the current practice of allowing paying passengers to board at all sea transport facilities.
In a letter to Rep. Rosiky F. Camacho, Commerce Secretary Frankie B. Villanueva said the Legislature should take into consideration that those who have been utilizing these facilities have already made substantial improvements.
Mr. Villanueva sent his comment to HB 12-250 which will regulate all commercial tour boat traffic within Saipan’s western lagoon designating only either the Smiling Cove or the Outer Cove Marina as the facilities which the boat operators can use.
Designating only two locations may prove to be burdensome, if not entirely unworkable, for the concerned businesses in terms of scheduling of trips, land based traffic congestion or overflows which may occur when departure times are minutes apart, Mr. Villanueva added.
Similarly, Pacific Subsea Saipan, Inc., which operates the submarine Sirena, has asked for an immediate rejection of HB 12-250 because of its severe financial impact on the company.
Stephen J. Nutting, secretary/treasurer of Pacific Subsea, said the submarine has been using the Lower Base Seaplane Ramp since 1986 without incident involving any other vessel.
Currently, Pacific Subsea is paying rent to the Commonwealth Ports Authority which is based on percentage of the gross revenues. The proposed measure will only divert fees and rentals from CPA which is a public corporation to a private entity.
Mr. Nutting asked the government to “carefully examine any legislation which effectively diverts funds from the government to private citizens to ensure that there exists a legitimate and compelling purpose for such a legislation. “
