Ariyoshi Still Firm on Trade Center

Every Sunday, “Back in the Day” looks at an article that ran on this date in the Honolulu Star-Bulletin. The items are verbatim, so don’t blame us today for yesteryear’s bad grammar.

Gov. George Ariyoshi yesterday made another pitch in favor of the Aloha Tower World Trade Center he proposed earlier this year and said a new market feasibility study is being made only to answer questions raised by the state Senate.

He told reporters at an informal news conference the trade center is needed as a symbol of Hawaii’s commitment to international trade.

However, Legislative Auditor Clinton Tanimura, who was asked by the Senate to examine the feasibility of the governor’s initial world trade proposal, yesterday questioned the funding of the second study.

Hideto Kono, state planning director, today said he authorized the second study to comply with the wishes of the Senate and to find answers to questions it raised about the proposed waterfront project.

But Tanimura said that it appeared the DPED doesn’t have the authority to contract for another study until lawmakers have reviewed the findings of his office.

"We are not in a position to furnish a legal opinion on the matter," Tanimura said. "However, it appears to us that the contracts were not authorized by legislative appropriation used to finance the (contract)."

Kono said today that until the attorney general’s office rules on the matter the contract authorizing the $83,333 feasibility study will be honored.

Meanwhile, Sen. Benjamin Cayetano, chairman of the Senate Ways and Means Committee, maintains that Kono’s authorization of the second feasibility study vindicates the Senate’s earlier decision not to fund the trade center.

"We deferred the $8.5 million appropriation request because we didn’t believe the administration’s information," said Cayetano, D-4th Dist. (Leeward Oahu-NorthShore).

"So we asked the legislative auditor to study the administration’s proposal and determine if the world trade center is a feasible project."

Cayetano said the Legislature never authorized the department to make a second market feasibility study.

The first study, costing $155,000, was completed March 19. The department last month contracted American Cities Corp. to do the second study.