FSMIS (November 27, 2013): On November 23, Chuuk State Governor
Johnson Elimo and House of Senate President Mark Mailo met with Federated
States of Micronesia (FSM) President Manny Mori in Palikir, Pohnpei.
The two Principal Leaders for the State of Chuuk approached President Mori with a clear agenda over very recent issues regarding the road
project on Weno Island.
The road project contractor, the Pacific International Inc.
(PII), had been handed a contract termination notice by the Project Management
Unit (PMU) at the FSM National Government, essentially ordering PII to cease
operation and move ahead with contract termination. PMU claimed that its
decision was based on certain section of the contract agreement with PII which
reserves the right for PMU to terminate the contract based on a determination
of non-compliance and inability to ensure project completion within specified
terms.
At their meeting, Governor Elimo informed President Mori that
the Chuuk State Leadership recently met to consider the status of termination
issued against PII. He further explained that the Leaders decided to take up the
matter with the President as they believe the situation now warrants issues far
beyond purely engineering and technical discourse.
Specifically, Governor Elimo stressed the position of the
Chuuk State Leaders that the FSM Government allows PII to continue as the
contractor based on the following reasons:
1. The
road construction project is a significant factor at the center of the State's
budgetary landscape. Removal of this factor without certain and immediate
replacement will drastically impact the budget.
2. Contracting
of another company to replace PII may potentially take a long time before
actual ground work is resumed. There is no guarantee that the next contractor will “do
a better job”.
President Mori expressed his appreciation of the difficult
situations regarding the whole complex Weno road project saga. However, he
highlighted that the President does not and should not interfere in the
implementation and professionally/technically-based decisions pertaining any specific
infrastructure project. He further stressed that the underlying common
objective shared by stakeholders was for the project to be brought to completion
within an acceptable timeframe and that Leaders should, as much as possible,
keep the project free of political weight.
Senate President Mailo and Governor Elimo concurred with
President Mori’s observations and spoke of the need to move beyond
fault-finding and focus on how to securing project completion with as minimal
adverse impact as can be.
Senior PMU officials later joined the Leaders at the meeting
to respond to inquiries. In the end, it was decided that PMU and PII will have
another face-to-face and renegotiate with the instruction that PII should
present in writing a “counter offer” detailing how it plans to execute the
completion of the remainder of the project.
The PMU will determine the nearest opportune time to meet
with officials from PII and Chuuk State Officials to hash out how to best
address everyone’s concerns.
A recent press release from PMU states that PII has been
provided a revised offer that extends completion date by 281 days beyond the
previous completion date of November 25, 2013 and increased the project price
by $1,761,076.07. PII
has until December 6 to respond to the offer.
The
meeting between President Mori, Governor Elimo and Senate President Mailo
availed the opportunity to also discuss other matters of importance including
telecommunication reform and sport facility project.
Governor
Elimo and Senate President Mailo were accompanied by Mr. Jesse Mori, Director
of the Department of Administrative Services, Mr. Johnny Meippen from the Chuuk
State Attorney General’s Office, and the Legal Counsel for the Chuuk State
Legislature.
President
Mori was assisted by Chief of Staff Leo Falcam Jr., with input from Mr. Bruce
Howell and Mr. Dana Smith from PMU.
For further information, email fsmpio@mail.fm.
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