Imperial Pacific International LLC has asked to amend its Casino License Agreement to extend the deadline to complete construction of its hotels and casinos.
In a statement, Imperial Pacific said the request has been made necessary due to a variety of challenges that caused construction delays, especially the severe damage to construction equipment from Typhoon Soudelor that took several months to repair. It listed a number of other problems including adverse weather conditions making tower cranes inoperable, unstable soil conditions causing damage to pilings that were driven into the ground; a lack of readily available skilled laborers; an overabundance of water at the construction site delaying the pouring of the concrete foundation; lack of necessary construction materials; the eight months it took to execute the public land lease for Garapan; the complication of the Marianas Resort Spa’s public land lease which expires in April 2018 and the deadline to complete the Integrated Resort in Marpi by February 2018.
Imperial Pacific said it shares the administration’s grave concerns regarding overstaying tourists, birth tourism and the parole program for Chinese tourists, especially since the Chinese tourism market makes up 40 percent of the CNMI’s tourism arrivals. The company said it will take an active role to protect the integrity of the parole program for Chinese tourists to assist in the success of CNMI tourism.
“All of Imperial Pacific’s subcontractors and service providers will be advised that they must comply with all federal and local laws and must only have employees allowed to work lawfully in the CNMI,” it said. “Failure to do this will result in very drastic measures, to include immediate contract termination.”
