Lack of information hinders flow of federal grants to NMI

CNMI officials attending a workshop with federal representatives in San Francisco have underscored the need for free-flowing information regarding availability of U.S. grants that can be applied on the islands.

Nearly $600 million were appropriated by the federal government in FY 99 alone to four insular areas — the Northern Marianas, Guam, U.S. Virgin Islands and American Samoa, according to officials.

But Commonwealth leaders have maintained only a portion of these cash resources went to the CNMI due to the fact that limited information is coming out to advice the island government of their availability.

During the workshop conducted last week, Finance Sec. Lucy DLG. Nielsen asked the Office of Insular Affairs to serve as “clearing house” through which information, such as terms and conditions of the grants, can be disseminated more effectively among the territories.

“OIA could serve as clearing house to let us know what grants are available… to make sure that those information flow down to us,” she told a radio interview over KSAI.

“Many times we were informed at the last minute and we weren’t able to apply for them,” added Ms. Nielsen who fled to San Francisco for the three-day conference.

The meeting was aimed at bringing together officials from the islands and major federal grantor agencies for the first time in an effort to discuss issues and concerns on the administration of the federal funds.

OIA Director Ferdinand Aranza said it was also intended to provide more federal resources to the islands. “The conference has identified those resources and matched with the pressing island needs,” he said in the same interview.

Easier access

According to Ms. Nielsen, the CNMI delegation is “very pleased” with the results of the discussion where they emphasized issues and concerns the local government has in terms of accessing the federal grants.

“One thing I’m impressed about this conference is the openness of the federal people, their willingness to support us and find ways to help us with accessing grants and maybe modifying conditions of the grants to meet our needs,” she said.

The Commonwealth has been receiving $11 million in annual federal construction grants under the Capital Improvement Projects/Covenant 702 provisions.

The funds, however, have required the CNMI to match the grants before they are released. Local leaders have unsuccessfully appealed to Washington to defer the 50-50 requirement due to financial difficulties confronting the islands.

Vicky Villagomez, local CIP coordinator who was also in the workshop, said they hope to come up with an action plan in order to achieve the goals set during the meeting.

“This is very beneficial in that we were able to identify the weaknesses and strengths [of the program],” she told the interview.

Public Auditor Leo L. LaMotte echoed its significance in pointing the need for local grant managers to comply with federal requirements to give the U.S. program managers the confidence that the CNMI is worthy of having additional money.

Asked whether the federal officials are concerned over how the Commonwealth is handling the grants, he said “it is important for them to know that the money is being managed properly.”

The conference, the local officials believed, has eased accessibility to the federal funds since a lot of the issues were discussed that allowed both sides to understand each other.

Meanwhile, Mr. Aranza is scheduled to arrive on Saipan this Thursday to hand over about $1 million in partial payment of the Compact/Impact costs associated with the hosting of Freely Associated States citizens by the CNMI here.

He is expected to meet with Gov. Pedro P. Tenorio, House Speaker Benigno R. Fitial and Senate President Paul A. Manglona to discuss other issues affecting the islands, he told in the interview.