CNMI: Facing Power Blackouts As Money Crisis Continues
Pacific Magazine
The Northern Marianas Government says the Commonwealth could experience major power blackouts and suffers more job cuts if the U.S. Congress doesn’t approve a US$140 million funding request.
The CNMI has submitted the bailout request for the 2014 fiscal year, Radio New Zealand International reports
The government press secretary says the pull-put of Japan Airlines, the closure of garment factories because of World Trade Organisation (WTO) rules and previous maladministration have led to the CNMI’s dire economic situation.
Charles Reyes says his government is also asking the US for a return to a quota system for garment production in CNMI and the return of about one million US dollars in taxes paid to the federal government.
Mr Reyes says if the requests are declined there could be a serious crisis as infrastructure, like power generators, need attention.
“If we do not receive relief in one of these forms whether it’s a trade rule change or a direct financial assistance or remitting taxes back to our local government, we are going to make serious cuts. If the generators break down, I mean it could be a serious crisis. We could have an island wild power outage for months. It’s a very critical situation,†Mr Reyes said…….Source: RNZI/PNS
