{"id":205432,"date":"2015-06-30T06:00:49","date_gmt":"2015-06-29T20:00:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/?p=205432"},"modified":"2015-06-30T06:00:49","modified_gmt":"2015-06-29T20:00:49","slug":"chamber-calls-for-govt-to-right-size-bsi-project","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/chamber-calls-for-govt-to-right-size-bsi-project\/","title":{"rendered":"Chamber calls for govt to \u2018right-size\u2019 BSI project"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Saipan Chamber of Commerce called on the government to look more into and right-sizing Best Sunshine International, Ltd.\u2019s $7.1-billion project in the CNMI.<\/p>\n

\"Sablan\"<\/a>
Sablan<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Chamber president Alex Sablan said that \u201ca hand-in-hand approach\u201d between government and the developer is needed to ensure that the project will be \u201csuccessful.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe developer is going to do what it says it\u2019s going to do,\u201d Sablan said, \u201cIs the developer developing what they want and wanting to maximize its profit? Yes. But how is the government going to maximize its opportunity?\u201d<\/p>\n

Sablan said the government should have a strategic plan with regards to moving forward with the project and that the chamber is \u201cringing the bell\u201d and asking where the plans are.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we don\u2019t talk about this, we don\u2019t get this plan in place, how can we realistically believe that we\u2019re going to generate a million and a half tourists which are what we\u2019re going to need in order to keep the hotels at 80 percent occupancy when you build almost 9,000 rooms here,\u201d Sablan said.<\/p>\n

He added that CNMI\u2019s tourism industry can do a lot better especially if there will be a plan with regards to BSI\u2019s development.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe think we can do a lot better if we have the right plan going forward with respect to this development. That\u2019s why we\u2019re asking the government to take a more concentrated, asserted effort at putting their determination on how to right-size and plan out and determine how we can get a year-round movement of tourist inter-island so that we can spread out opportunity throughout the year,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Mass market<\/strong>
\nOne question that Sablan asked is if the CNMI will be able to develop the mass market needed for the upcoming project.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen we plan to build an integrated resort, are we planning to build also a conference facility that we can use to improve our shoulder periods?\u201d Sablan said.<\/p>\n

According to him, hotels in the islands are full during four out of 12 months, but are only around 70 percent occupancy the rest of the year.<\/p>\n

He asked if the government will be partnering with BSI to promote the islands for conferences, exhibits, or expos as what is being done in other places like Hawaii and Singapore.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t necessarily need to have somebody build a separate convention center. What we can have is somebody working from Best Sunshine to right- size the right conference or exhibit or convention center for the development we want in an integrated resort. That way we can promote in the off-periods, throughout the year,\u201d he said,<\/p>\n

Labor and infrastructure issues<\/strong>
\nSablan also pointed out the huge number of workers that will be needed should an additional 4,000 rooms from BSI and a thousand more from other projects will be opened.<\/p>\n

On room attendants alone, he estimates an additional 4,400 will be needed.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe labor issue is a very big concern,\u201d Sablan said.<\/p>\n

He also noted problems in air traffic as well as the lack of airlines and lack of space in the airport should the Commonwealth be increasing tourist arrivals.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt this stage in the game, I have not seen any plan on airport extension. I have not seen any plan for mass transit system,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

He said he also hasn\u2019t seen plans for improving utilities such as water services.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re asking the government to right-size this development. We think the number is too much. Four thousand rooms for one developer in this integrated resort project are too much, thinking as how we haven\u2019t done anything to improve infrastructure in the airports, infrastructure in the island,\u201d Sablan said.<\/p>\n

\u201cMaybe it\u2019s too early to worry about it, I don\u2019t know. I just don\u2019t think that we are in the game of planning for it and we\u2019re asking the government to see if it can take a look at it and if it makes sense,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Saipan Chamber of Commerce called on the government to look more into and right-sizing…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":51,"featured_media":205438,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[900],"tags":[2377,988,1311,26],"class_list":["post-205432","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","tag-alex-sablan","tag-best-sunshine","tag-bsi","tag-cnmi"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/205432","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\/51"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=205432"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/205432\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/205438"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=205432"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=205432"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=205432"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}