CNMI renews emergency declaration for utility

8:27 pm on 18 December 2015

The acting governor in the Northern Marianas, Ralph Torres, has renewed the declaration of a state of significant emergency for the Commonwealth Utilities Corp.

He said he renewed the directive due to the threat of the inability to provide critical power generation, water, and wastewater.

Mr Torres says a financial crisis continues at the company, as it is owed more than US$20 million by the Public School System and the Commonwealth Healthcare Corp as well as millions of dollars owed by private consumers.

CUC also faces a manpower crisis as CNMI law prohibits CUC from hiring more non-US technical workers.