House seek status report on power project

The House leadership will seek a meeting with board directors of the Commonwealth Utilities Corp. to discuss status of the Saipan power project and other issues concerning the government-owned corporation.

House Speaker Benigno R. Fitial yesterday instructed the public utilities committee chair Rep. Rosiky F. Camacho to set the meeting now that CUC board members “are all on island.”

The leadership met last month with Board Chair Jesus T. Guerrero to tackle matters such as the power project as well as CUC’s debt to the Commonwealth Development Authority.

Other members of the board were off-island at that time meeting with lawyers from Fulbright & Jaworski in preparation for the forthcoming negotiation with Enron on the estimated $120 million power plant.

But Mr. Fitial stressed at yesterday’s House session they need to sit down with the entire board to closely look into all the issues facing the utility agency.

Mr. Camacho said he would have to schedule the meeting with CUC officials in the next few days.

Last week, Vice Chair Laura I. Manglona reported to the board that they have finalized a draft of the contract on the 60-megawatt power plant which they expect to use as its official position during the negotiations with Enron.

The proposed Power Purchase Agreement or PPA is now being reviewed by the Attorney General’s Office, which they will send afterwards to the Houston-based power giant for its comment.

Formal negotiations are likely to begin within the next two weeks, according to Mr. Guerrero.

Enron won the contract last May to build the new power plant in a controversial decision that came after years of disputes between CUC and various bidders.

While protests from losing bidders are still pending with the Office of Public Auditor, CUC officials forged ahead with the project and have hired lawyers from Fulbright & Jaworski and power consultants from Burns & McDonnell to assist them.

They met with their lawyers in Houston and L.A. the past few months to draw up the PPA, with the recent meeting held on Saipan last week.

The PPA will be the key contract between CUC and Enron that covers scope of the power project, such as costs and commercial terms; transactions, structure, net output and guaranteed fixed rate; environmental permitting, transmission, dispatch and others.

Touted to be the largest deal ever in CNMI’s history, the project is to be installed through the build-operate-transfer scheme under a 25-year agreement.