FLASHBACK January 22, 1999

$100M water project backed at hearing[/B]

A proposed water desalination plant for central Saipan drew support on Wednesday from residents frustrated over empty faucets which have struck some villages in recent years due to growing population and long dry spell. But some villagers still balked at a cost-sharing agreement offered by the Commonwealth Utilities Corporation that will push water bills by as much as 10 times higher than the present rate to finance the $100 million project. Apparently irked by delay, legislators from Precint 3 vowed in a public hearing held late Wednesday to subsidize the project and move ahead with its construction which has been derailed for the past two years due to funding problem.

The House committee on Health, Education and Welfare will start an oversight investigation into the Northern Marianas College next week, focusing on operations, scholarships and financial management of CNMI’s lone higher learning institution, its chairman said yesterday. The announcement was made after NMC students picketed the governor’s office to protest against insufficient funds for the college scholarship program, which may imperil their education this spring semester. “We will get to the bottom why these policies of the college are different from what we tend to hear and read,” HEW chair Rep. Heinz Hofschneider told reporters. “We will see how those scholarship money is being applied to the operations of the college,” he added.

Filipinos celebrate Erap’s ouster[/B]

It was initially intended to be a protest march in support of hundreds and thousands of their kababayans who trooped to the historic EDSA in suburb Mandaluyong City in the Philippines to call for the resignation of President Joseph Estrada. But the Filipino community on Saipan ended up holding a prayer rally in celebration of the ouster of Mr. Estrada from the Philippine presidency only after a little over two years since he assumed the position following a landslide victory in 1998. Filipinos on the island marched from the Kristo Rai Parish Church in South Garapan to the American Memorial Park Saturday night where they stopped and held a small program highlighted by prayers for their embattled country.

Mandarin Air is studying the possibility of pulling out of Saipan due to heavy losses as a result of low passenger load but officials said they are still looking at two more options to save the airline’s operations on the island. Tinian Dynasty Hotel manager Tom Liu said travel agents from Taiwan have decided they will no longer handle 100 charter seats for both the Monday and Friday flights because of low passenger load. Mr. Liu said the five tour operators from Taiwan which took over the 100 airline seats per flight have suffered huge losses. Mandarin Air’s load factor ranges only from 50 to 70 percent.

Projected revenue down by $35.6M[/B]

In July 2001, former Gov. Pedro P. Tenorio submitted a $229-million budget for Fiscal Year 2002. In October that same year, he submitted a reduced budget of $206 million. Today, the new administration projected revenues at only $193.37 million. Yet despite such a huge drop, the Babauta administration is keeping its fingers crossed that the projections would still go up, with the expected revenue collections coming from the Business Gross Revenue Tax, amusement tax and other government levies that are due this January. These were disclosed during yesterday’s briefing at the Office of the Governor, where Gov. Juan N. Babauta told Senate leaders that, although the plunge in revenues have not bottomed out yet, he is doing everything he can to stem the hemorrhage.

In line with the Babauta Administration’s target to bring in one million tourists annually, an Ohio-based company is planning to operate a floating hotel on Saipan that would include new tourist amenities other than suites and restaurants. The Sea Hotel Corporation wants to permanently dock a huge yacht at the bay near the fishing base in Garapan, which would be operated as a hotel. Aside from this, the company also plans to erect suites on an estimated 4-hectare coastal land. The structure would be connected to the yacht.