Previous Story
Firm pleads with CUC to pay it $904K for finished project
T.M Corp. is pleading with the Commonwealth Utilities Corp. to pay its $904,619 claim that it says has been on CUC’s backlog since 2001.
Speaking on behalf of the corporation’s president who is not articulate in English, former senator Pete Reyes said the industrial company has not been successful in their multiple attempts to be compensated for their work.
The work, the “Chinatown Wastewater” project, has since been completed.
Because of the lack of payment, T.M. Corp. could not continue and has since closed down since majority of their assets are tied to this project, Reyes said.
The company president, a U.S. permanent resident and father of two, had no alternative but to close down, Reyes said.
Right now, heavy equipment on his lease on Rota are “rusting away” because of its reliance on CUC to inject funds to continue the business, Reyes said.
T.M. Corp.’s Saipan office is closed as well, he added.
Reyes said the company does not wish to take legal action but wishes to sit down with CUC and negotiate this matter.
“I urge the members of this board to take this matter seriously and take the effort to resolve this claim at the earliest,” he said.
According to Reyes, there have been previous letters from CUC requesting a settlement for this claim, but that has not taken place.
“This is a grave injustice to the contractor,” he said.
The CUC board later went into executive session to, among others, discuss this issue.
Before executive session, board chair Adelina Roberto assured Reyes and the corporation’s president, who was in the room, that they would look into the matter.
In an interview after executive session, CUC executive director Alan Fletcher said “no decisions” were made.
The board instead tasked management to “get into the files” to verify if this claim is accurate, he said.
