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Outcome of MPLA-Azmar talks bared today
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Posted on Dec 02 2004
Results of the 15-day confidential negotiations between the Marianas Public Lands Authority and Azmar International will be brought out in the open today.
MPLA commissioner Edward Deleon Guerrero is scheduled to make a recommendation to the board of directors this afternoon on Azmar’s mining permit application, based on the bargaining talks that he and MPLA attorney Alan Lane conducted with Azmar over the past 15 days.
In an interview, MPLA chair Ana Demapan-Castro said the board of directors would make a decision on whether or not to allow Azmar to mine Pagan pozzolan based on the management’s report.
“I can’t speak for the other members of the board, but I am ready to make a decision. I think the management has had ample time to review the application and make an informed recommendation. I think it’s time for the board to make a decision,” Demapan-Castro said.
The meeting, slated to start at 3:30pm, was initially set to be held on Rota. However, Public Lands decided to conduct the meeting at its Chalan Piao office in Saipan to allow more staff members to attend, Demapan-Castro said.
On Nov. 16, the MPLA board of directors authorized Deleon Guerrero and Lane to present a draft temporary mining permit to Azmar to initiate a 15-day negotiation. The board made the decision despite Azmar’s failure to turn in most of the documents the company had been required to submit.
The board also approved a confidentiality agreement that obliged both Azmar and MPLA to keep mum about the negotiation proceedings while the talks were ongoing. This decision drew criticism from some lawmakers and the watchdog group PaganWatch.
But in Nov. 23 press statement, Demapan-Castro stressed that “no official MPLA action will take place without the public first being informed of all the facts and circumstances.”
She added that the MPLA board, at its Nov. 16 special meeting, did not enter into nor commit itself to providing Azmar with anything more than a draft document for consideration and negotiations.
