New contractor recruits legal workers
Imperial Pacific International may ask for more time to finish development of its namesake casino on the South Pacific island of Saipan, the only gaming hall in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands.
Edward Deleon Guerrero, director of the Commonwealth Casino Commission, met with IPI officials to get a progress report on construction of the 329-room integrated resort, which is due to be completed by August 31 under the revised Casino License Agreement signed last August, Marianas Variety reports.
“Based on the preliminary information that we received, IPI contractor Pacific Rim said they will complete 250 rooms by August 2018 but for the remaining 79 rooms, they are consulting with IPI to determine a safe time to complete them,” Guerrero said. “Pacific Rim is now consulting with IPI to determine whether there is a need for IPI to ask for an extension or not.”
It’s been less than a year since IPI got a 10-month extension for construction of the resort; that request was in the wake of Typhoon Soudelor, which caused extensive damage to the site in August 2015. Since then, the company was embroiled in a scandal involving the use of 2,000 illegal workers by former contractors MCC, Beleida and Gold Mantis, reported Inside Asian Gaming.
Pacific Rim has recruited a legal workforce, primarily from the Philippines and Taiwan.
Guerrero did not guarantee an additional extension. “Among the reasons is lack of skilled labor, but that has been resolved already and it’s just a matter of time before all of them will show up,” he told Variety. “Some are already here and more are showing up next week.”
