Acting governor Jude U. Hofschneider hopes the joint session of the House and Representatives and Senate this afternoon will approve the proposed land lease deal between Alter City Group and the Department of Public Lands.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s one of the main topics of discussion [on Tinian] over the last couple of months. It\u2019s good for the economy and it\u2019s good for the CNMI and we have confidence in their ability, in this case the developers, that they\u2019re going to work very hard with the CNMI government to realize their land investment on Tinian,\u201d Hofschneider said in an interview following the graduation of seven Customs officers Wednesday at the Office of the Governor.<\/p>\n
He said he is confident that the CNMI government and the Tinian Municipality will work together in relocating the open landfill at Puntan Diablo, which is situated right smack in the middle of the proposed $360-million casino resort\u2019s planned 18-hole golf course.<\/p>\n
\u201cHistorically speaking, that landfill or dump issue has been in the discussion for several years now. The money is still there and annual appropriation will continue to flow into that pot until the new U.S. [Environmental Protection Agency]-certified landfill is finished.\u201d<\/p>\n
He added that the issue of the transfer station and anything else associated with the closure of the dumpsite and the opening of the new EPA-approved one is ongoing.<\/p>\n
Rep. Anthony Benavente (Ind-Saipan), chairman of the House Natural Resources Committee, said it\u2019s about time the House and Senate finally take a vote on the land lease deal.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe committees submitted it [standing committee reports] and we\u2019re ready for the joint session and go through it and take a vote,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The land lease agreement between Macau-based Alter City and Public Lands requires two-thirds affirmative votes from the joint session of the House and Senate.<\/p>\n
Despite not being part of the administration, Benavente said he\u2019s still voting yes on the land lease agreement.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s something good for the people of Tinian and this development is worthwhile for the community as it will improve the economy of the island.\u201d<\/p>\n
He said he just wants a guarantee from the Municipality of Tinian and Alter City that they will work hand in hand in relocating the contentious dumpsite. <\/p>\n
\u201cThat has to be done in three years\u2019 time. The lease agreement gives the leasee three years\u2019 time to complete the permitting process so after three years the investor can move in, so the dumpsite should be relocated by then.\u201d<\/p>\n
Alter City plans to build its casino resort at Puntan Diablo, also known as Nasarino, on Tinian.<\/p>\n
It is the same area that was previously leased by Marianas Resort Development Corp., or MRDC, before the latter abandoned the lease. MRDC had planned to build a $300-million Matua Bay Casino Resort on the property, including an 18-hole golf course.<\/p>\n
The three-phased project includes the construction of 1,000 hotel rooms, water parks, an 18-hole golf course, villas, casino facilities and related tourism amenities, to be completed within 12 years.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Acting governor Jude U. Hofschneider hopes the joint session of the House and Representatives and…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[1231,256,26,65],"class_list":["post-183492","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-local-news","tag-alter-city-group","tag-casino","tag-cnmi","tag-house"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/183492","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=183492"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/183492\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=183492"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=183492"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=183492"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}