GOVERNOR Ralph DLG Torres on Friday said a new government office has been created to focus on procurement, permitting and construction management/engineering for infrastructure and recovery projects.
He has named Marianne Concepcion-Teregeyo, former secretary of the Department of Public Lands, as the coordinator for the Infrastructure and Recovery Office.
The  office will consist of engineers, biologists, environmental planners, master planners, archaeologists, as well as attorneys who will help ensure that contracts are done right and expedited.
This new program will assist with disaster recovery and public assistance hazard mitigation projects, including those of Northern Marianas College, the Public School System, the Commonwealth Healthcare Corp., the Commonwealth Utilities Corporation, Routes 35 and 36 and other road projects.
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Viola Alepuyo
âWe are working very hard to resume tourism safely,â she added, referring to the Torres-Palacios administration, MVA management and staff, the CNMI Covid-19 task force, the Governorâs Council of Economic Advisers, the recently created Tourism Resumption Investment Program or TRIP led by Commonwealth Ports Authority Chairwoman Kimberlyn King-Hinds and other tourism-related stakeholders both in the CNMI and abroad.
Asked about the anticipated challenges of restarting tourism, Alepuyo said, âThe devil is in the details.â
âAnybody can say we are going to have tourism restarted, but how do you go about doing it?â she asked. âThere is still a lot work that needs to be done, a lot of i s to dot and t s to cross, and we have to do all of this in compliance with CNMI and federal laws and in conjunction with the laws and regulations that our destination partners must follow. Fortunately, we have a lot of industry partners who are ver
GOVERNOR Ralph DLG Torres and Lt. Gov. Arnold I. Palacios, together with the Marianas Visitors Authority and other tourism stakeholders, proclaimed May as Tourism Month.
At the proclamation signing ceremony held in the governorâs conference room on Capital Hill, MVA Executive Director Priscilla Iakopo said, âIt has been a difficult time over the last year for tourism in the Marianas. For some of our partners, it has not only been difficult, it has also been devastating. Nonetheless, we see the spirit of âMarianas Strongâ is still with us.â
Iakopo highlighted how the CNMI has protected its community against Covid-19 and is now trying to revive the local economy.
WHILE some of the worldâs major cities anticipate to reopen to tourism this summer, the CNMI wants to first ensure that the threshold for herd immunity has been reached before it reopens to tourists, Gov. Ralph DLG Torres said on Friday.
âWe are safe as a community, but in order for us to open up to tourism, we need to hit a certain threshold,â he said, adding that every state and jurisdiction has its own goals in terms of reopening its borders to tourism.
âIf we are not safe, then we have [no] business talking about tourism.â
For starters, the governor said, there is a need to consider the quarantine protocols for visitors upon their return to their home countries.