Still unmanaged

At the end of the Commonwealth Casino Commission meeting last week, IPI chief executive officer Mark Brown confers with casino commission lawyer Mike Ernest as IPI general counsel Phillip J. Tydingco looks on. (BEA CABRERA)

Imperial Pacific International (CNMI) LCC was supposed to start operating the entire Mariana Resort & Spa by mid-May but, as the month draws to a close, that hasn’t happened yet.

The company blames the many hoops it is being made to jump through to get the process done.

“It seems like we take one step forward and then we have to take three steps backwards,” IPI chief executive officer Mark Brown told Saipan Tribune.

Last month, the company got the notice from the Department of Public Lands to allow the casino operator to manage and operate the resort. IPI’s planned takeover was supposed to happen by the middle of May and IPI now feels stuck in the middle of many processes that have resulted in the delay.

Brown said they announced at the Commonwealth Casino Commission meeting last April that they have already received the notice from DPL that IPI is getting the management agreement to operate Mariana Resort and that they have been working out the finances since then.

“But now other questions have been raised,” he added.

According to Brown, the Office of the Attorney General is seeking additional information relating to the grant of the management agreement from DPL.

“That is what we are doing now, gathering more information so we can move forward with that,” he said

The goal in the end is to get the Mariana Resort land “because we cannot plan properly without the lands,” he said. “We are trying to get lands to tie together with our Garapan construction and on to the other phases.

“That is the frustration and difficulties that our company has to go through.

“When the [casino] commission asks us about our work plans, we answer respectfully that we want to move forward but it is very difficult to have a plan when we don’t know where that next building is going to be built,” he added.

The development of the Marpi area is referred to as Phase II in the casino management agreement, which IPI is a privy to as the exclusive casino license holder on Saipan.

Brown said he is aware that the island needs money and, in the event the management agreement pushes through, the income from the rent of the property will be of help. “DPL doesn’t have the money to take care of the land,” he said.

He pointed out that, under the management agreement, IPI is going to pay for the property at a higher rate that what the original owner used to pay. Brown said that IPI will pay 10 times more for the property per year. “We will take care of the property so we are still figuring out why it is taking long,” he added.

Mariana Resort and Spa used to be run by Kan Pacific Saipan Ltd.

The management agreement that is supposedly set for one year is not a lease agreement and, despite the waiting game, Brown said that they are looking forward to fulfilling the phases and plans of the company.

“[Secretary] Marianne Teregeyo of DPL is doing her job as she is trying to push forward, the governor and lieutenant governor are trying to help but this is really all about getting all of them to agree, including the attorney general,” he said. “Our goal is to get the land…”

“Two years have gone by and we are still waiting,” he added.