The Northern Mariana Islands' newly elected congressional delegate is setting her sights on addressing the territory's pressing issues. In her first weeks since the election, Kimberlyn King-Hinds has met with federal agencies, and local stakeholders, to outline her priorities.
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HOST/JEFFERSON CRONIN: The Northern Mariana Islands' newly elected congressional delegate is setting her sights on addressing the territory's pressing issues. In her first weeks since the election, Kimberlyn King-Hinds has met with federal agencies, and local stakeholders, to outline her priorities. KPRG’s Naina Rao reports.
BYLINE/NAINA RAO: CNMI delegate Kimberlyn King-Hinds is focused on tackling the Commonwealth’s economic and structural challenges. She says government efficiency and accountability are top priorities.
KIMBERLYN KING-HINDS: My job is to get a firm understanding of what our challenges are and be able to work with members of Congress to be able to protect the interests of the CNMI. A lot of these conversations with regards to Department of Education, for example, is accountability. So you do have the federal government, expending a huge amount of federal resources to particular agencies. Does the investment correlate with the intended outcome? And if not, how do we look at this system, streamline it, and make it more efficient to be able to maximize the use of the federal dollars?
RAO: King-Hinds succeeds Gregorio Kilili Sablan, who represented the Northern Marianas in Congress for 15 years. A lawyer by profession, she’s prioritizing tourism – an essential industry for the islands – as part of her strategy to address economic challenges.
KING-HINDS: That's our only industry, right? And whether you like the China market or not, it's an option, and we should do whatever it takes, by whatever means necessary, to get all the markets online. If we get them online automatically, the government is generating more revenues, right? Hotels are able to restore their hours.
RAO: Another focus is modernizing aging infrastructure, such as power plants, to lower utility costs for residents and businesses.
KING-HINDS: All the experts that I've been talking to are saying that one of the reasons why it's so costly is because the power plant is so old and it's using a specific type of fuel that's very expensive, but one of the things that you can do immediately to provide relief is replace that engine.
RAO: King-Hinds says she’s eager to join the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee to secure federal support for these projects. As she assumes office, she’s focusing on building a strong team and strengthening CNMI’s relationship with federal programs. For K-P-R-G News, I'm Naina Rao.
