Flashback September 18, 2000-2002

[B]September 18, 2000

Gov’t disagrees with CUC billing[/B]

Finance officials will have to meet with the Commonwealth Utilities Corporation in order to reach a settlement over unpaid utility bills after they found “discrepancies” between what CUC is demanding and what the government actually owes. Gov. Pedro P. Tenorio has instructed Finance Sec. Lucy DLG. Nielsen to discuss the matter following a “hastily-called” meeting last week on the heels of CUC’s threat to cut off power to several government offices.

[B]Teno signs election reform law[/B]

Gov. Pedro P. Tenorio has signed legislation reforming “archaic” elections laws in the CNMI to give ample time to the Board of Elections for its implementation ahead of next year’s general polls. But he prodded lawmakers to correct a major provision regarding residency requirement for eligibility to vote on the islands for fear of future constitutional challenge. Public Law 12-18 or the “Northern Mariana Islands Election Reform Act of 2000” updates existing statute passed in 1977 governing such political exercise aimed at ensuring smooth polling system here.

[B]Telesource gets $17-M Tinian airport rehab contract[/B]

The Commonwealth Ports Authority has formally decided to award the contract for the construction of the new $17-million West Tinian International Airport runway to Telesource CNMI, Inc., which offered the lowest bid among six companies that proposed to carry out the project. The Federal Aviation Administration has recently concurred with the ports authority’s decision to award the contract for the project to Telesource at $16.9 million for the 8,600-linear-foot Tinian airport runway.

[B]September 18, 2001

NMI unemployment rate seen to skyrocket[/B]

Unemployment rate in the Northern Marianas is anticipated to rise as businesses from all economic sectors in the Commonwealth crumble due to the projected mammoth drop in air travel. Many fearful passengers were expected to refrain from flying in the coming weeks and even months following the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon last week.

[B]NMI tourism faces gloomier days[/B]

Of the five international flights that arrived yesterday morning at the CNMI airport, only nine passengers were tourists. In that manner did the first ripples of the terror attacks in the US mainland reach the distant shores of the Northern Marianas, with officials from the government and private sector now predicting a fall in the tourism industry by as much as 40 percent in the next three months.

[B]Attacks cripple business sector[/B]

“Everything will die!” Richard Pierce, president of the Saipan Chamber of Commerce, was referring to practically all business sectors in the CNMI, including what have been considered as the backbones of the local economy—garment and tourism industries. Although the Chamber had expressed support to any United States’ action in connection with the tragedies in New York and Washington last week, Pierce said the ailing economy will plummet deeper once the nation goes into war. He described the gravity of the impact as “exponential” and “rippling.”

[B]September 18, 2002

Drive on to make NMI even more beautiful
[/B] “We have a product and it’s beautiful but we really need to work on making this product much better.” With these words, Gov. Juan N. Babauta set the tone and background for his meeting with the Marianas Visitors Authority on Monday, as the administration and the agency explored ways of ratcheting up the number of tourist arrivals in the Commonwealth.

[B]PSS wants contracting authority over its CIPs[/B]

The State Board of Education is seeking to gain control over both the contracting and expenditure aspects of school constructions so it could play a more direct and active role in overseeing the Public School System’s Capital Improvement Projects. Members of the BOE, led by acting Chair Roman C. Benavente, yesterday adopted a resolution that underscored the need for PSS to hold both the contracting and expenditure authorities over all future school projects.