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Marshall Islands Journal 2010 News From the 2/19/10 issue of the Marshall Islands Journal MEC to be profitable? In two to three years, MEC will be profitable, General Manager David Paul told the Journal this week. Engine repairs, electricity loss reductions, electric meters, enforcement of debt payments, and cost-cutting measures will see “MEC in the black in two to three years maximum,” Paul said. “I’m very optimistic.” He said MEC workers are soon to be done with overhauling the Caterpillar engine, which will take the engine from its current 1.5 MW production up to three MW. Then the big Deutz engine in the other power plant, that is now producing around three MW, will be fixed to increase its output to six MW. “The beauty is that once done, these engines will produce double the power they are capable of now for the same amount of fuel,” he said. “This will be a huge savings for MEC.” An engineer is arriving shortly to conduct a report on “system losses.” Paul said MEC is aware that it’s losing about 25 percent of the power it produces from problems in the plant and in the distribution system. Getting the company back to profitability will “not be easy, and it will take a while to accomplish,” he said. No new jobs around town Employment levels in the RMI have remained virtually unchanged over the past six years, according to a statistical report issued by the RMI’s Economic Policy, Planning and Statistics Office. Total employment went down slightly in 2009 compared to 2008. In 2009, 10,216 people were employed in RMI. In 2008 it was 10,312. But the number of workers has remained static at about 10,000 since 2003, going from a low of 9,707 in 2005 (when the former PMOP loining plant closed) to the high of 10,338 in 2007. In 2004, there were 10,116 people working and in the intervening five years only 100 jobs were added in the country. The data show that public enterprises — government agencies such as MEC, NTA, Ports Authority and so on — are growing. There were 828 employed in 2009 compared to 692 in 2004. The private sector added only 37 new jobs from 2008 to 2009, with 4,053 employed last year — an all-time high for the country. Jobs at Kwajalein had declined by an average of 70 per year since cuts began in 2007. RMI national government jobs declined from the 2006 high of 2,421 to 2,370 last year. Total government jobs — including national and local governments, public enterprises and agencies — amounted to 4,568 in 2009, down from 2007’s all-time high of 4,656.
From the 2/12/10 issue of the Marshall Islands Journal Yokwe Bartowe beats Avatar at box office
Yokwe Bartowe, a low-budget locally-produced feature film, out-paced the global record-setting Hollywood hit Avatar in attendance in its first week in Majuro. First weekend run numbers provided by K&K Theaters shows that 604 people paid to see Bartowe the first weekend (Friday-Sunday) that it showed compared to 239 viewers for Avatar, which opened in Majuro Friday. Avatar has set the world’s record as the highest grossing movie, with more than $2 billion in gross revenue worldwide, reported ABC News this week. Earlier this month, it beat The Titanic, which had held the record as the biggest revenue-grossing film ever for the past 12 years. While Avatar producers spent $300,000,000 to make their film, Bartowe producers Jack Niedenthal and Suzanne Chutaro indicated the cost of their film was $1,128.05. Bartowe continued to draw crowds this past weekend, but not as high as its first weekend in Majuro. K&K reported that 220 people paid to see Bartowe last weekend. Both films are continuing at K&K through next week. Bartowe is expected to be out on DVD in about a month. From the 1/15/10 issue of the Marshall Islands Journal Who will take over Chamber of Commerce President role? The Marshall Islands Chamber of Commerce will hold its first monthly luncheon meeting of the New Year next Wednesday, January 20, at the Marshall Islands Resort’s Melele Room beginning at 11:30am. This will be the Chamber’s every-two-year election meeting. Chamber officers hold their term of office for two years. The last officer elections were held in January, 2008. This meeting is dedicated to electing new Chamber officers for 2010-2011. Chamber members that have paid their annual $50 dues are eligible to run for office and vote. Four officer positions — President, Vice President, Treasurer, and Secretary — are up for election. These are currently held by Hirobo Obeketang (pictured), Mike Slinger, Salome Andrike and Jim McLean, respectively. Although there is no restriction regarding how many terms of office an officer may hold, it is customary for the Chamber President position to change each two years to provide dynamic new leadership, McLean said. Otherwise, it is up to each officer to choose to stand for reelection. Two officers — Obeketang and Andrike — are not seeking reelection. Slinger and McLean will defer to the wishes of the Chamber members regarding reelection for another two-year term. So two or more new officers need to be elected this month the most important of which is the position of President. The new Chamber President can select any number of non-officer Chamber members for the Chamber’s Executive Committee that is nominally comprised of the four elected officers and the immediate past President as an ex-officio member. “I know that I speak for Vice President Mike when I say that we would welcome and support other Chamber members that decide to stand for election to any of the four officer positions,” McLean said.
Jerry wins CMI court bid battle A court dispute over a $2 million CMI construction project was resolved Monday when the college agreed to rebid the project. Pacific International Inc. withdrew its lawsuit Monday in exchange for CMI agreeing to rebid the project in February, acknowledging that the college violated the RMI government’s procurement law and agreeing to follow procurement requirements including a public opening of the bids submitted. The agreement between PII and CMI was signed by PII CEO Jerry Kramer and CMI’s outgoing President Wilson Hess, and filed in the High Court Monday with a motion to dismiss the case by PII attorney David Strauss. Anil Construction won the bid late last year for the approximately $2.2 million CMI administration building. But PII initially protested the award, and after the CMI bid committee rejected the protest, took the college to court saying that CMI had not followed the terms of the government’s procurement law governing bids. The bids were ranked on price and technical aspects, and Anil was given the opportunity to change its bid after it was submitted. The agreement attached to Monday’s dismissal states that CMI is in a “time-sensitive stage” of the final part of a $25 million campus facilities improvement project. “CMI did not follow the RMI Procurement Code in regards to its handling of Project No. CMI008 (the administration building),” the agreement states. The agreement states it is in everyone’s best interests to: • Redesign the administration building. • Have PII dismiss the case against CMI. • Have CMI rebid the project on February 1, with the requirements that it involve prequalified bidders, the bids will be opened publicly, the bid awarded without further technical assessment, and it will go to the lowest qualifying and compliant bidder. Anil Construction CEO Carlos Domnick said Tuesday that his company is not going to object to CMI’s plan to rebid the project. “We’ll go along with the rebid,” he said. “We don’t want to hold up CMI’s project.”
From the 1/8/10 issue of the Marshall Islands Journal PII pulls out of Tobolar By GIFF JOHNSON Pacific International Inc. (PII) has ended its 30-year relationship with the RMI government for managing Tobolar Copra Processing Authority, and the north Pacific’s only copra factory is now under board control. “It’s time to move on,” said PII CEO Jerry Kramer of PII’s decision to get out of Tobolar management. “Tobolar’s management is well-trained and they have an interested board.” Kramer added that his staff has been working closely with the Tobolar board for a smooth transition. PII’s management officially ended on December 31, but a few continuing issues are being worked on as part of the transition, he indicated. Tobolar board chairman Jemi Nashion confirmed that PII “wanted to get out” of the management, and “based on that, we agreed. As of December 31, PII is no longer part of Tobolar.” This terminates not only 30 years of management by PII, but ends the involvement of the company that built the facility. R&D Minister Matt Zackhras at Tuesday’s Nitijela session commented on the transition to new management, and said a study of Tobolar is to be conducted by a Honolulu firm later this month that is expected to help the government to develop new products and improve the quality of the oil it sells. “The assessment of Tobolar will help the board be aware of its current status, opportunities and risks so we can move forward accordingly,” Nashion told the Journal. “We need solid information, which the study will provide. It will help not only to understanding the current situation, but to help Tobolar pursue funding opportunities.” The Hawaii company that will conduct the study, Oceanic Marshalls Inc., has previously advised the Marshalls Energy Company when it was purchasing the “new” power plant in Delap in the late 1990s and has experience in bio-fuel, according to Zackhras and Tobolar board members. Nashion said the copra plant needs new equipment to improve its operations. “It needs a major overhaul and funding to do it,” he said. Kramer said his company began building Tobolar in 1976 and its first million-dollar shipment of oil was exported in 1979. “The opening of Tobolar (in the late 1970s) broke new ground,” said Kramer, noting that at the time the copra industry in the region was controlled by a handful of companies that were exploiting the islands. “Majuro is the last place north of the equator still to be milling copra.” Kramer said it had not been easy to maintain operations over the years, but with careful management, it had been possible to continue “this important source of income for outer islanders.”
‘Why the need for new cars?’ In the midst of interesting back and forth in Nitijela Wednesday, Mejit Senator Dennis Momotaro interjected an observation that surely caused a reaction in some listeners. In a session focused on the current plight of copra makers in the outer islands, several of the senators expressed concern not only about the dramatic effect of the just-introduced price drop for copra (effective January 1 copra went from .22¢ a pound to .15¢) but the fact that producers have serious difficulty getting paid, even when their product is picked up. Senator Momotaro’s question was aimed at vehicles. Specifically, he wanted to know why it was necessary for the various ministries of government to purchase new vehicles when “the vehicles they have been using were in good shape.”
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