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CUC set to start repairs at power plants to collect more revenues
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Posted on Apr 16 2006
The Commonwealth Utilities Corp. is set to start the repair of Power Plants 1 and 2 engines to provide more power that would translate to more revenues to the agency that has been suffering from a cash flow problem.
Anthony C. Guerrero, acting CUC executive director, told the Saipan Tribune that they have already the contract to start rehabilitating some of the engines, particularly at Power Plant 2.
“The reason for that is that we need to get these units back on line that would give us the margin capacity that would allow us to begin working on our larger engines on Power Plant 1,” Guerrero said.
He said the repair project over at Power Plant 1 is expected to “happen very shortly too.”
CUC is going to award the project to a company that has committed to bringing back at least 20 megawatt of power in the next few months, Guerrero said.
As CUC has been placed on state of emergency, the acting executive director said, “serious changes have been sidetracked a bit.”
“We need to address some really pressing issues and that is over power generation right now,” he noted.
“We’re sort of outside the norm of how we operate and that’s obvious because of our current situation, the cost of fuel and the crisis of our power plant,” he said.
Guerrero said they have initiated some internal changes “that will eventually lead to more changes in the future.” He did not elaborate.
CUC reportedly is currently insolvent. Its total net assets balance reflected a net deficiency of $13 million in fiscal year 2003 and $30.3 million in fiscal year 2004.
The Fitial administration had stated that CUC’s financial solvency will be immediately restored if its over $100 million debt with the Commonwealth Development Authority is written off through legislation. The administration is aiming to solve the CUC crisis within 90 days.
