A casino investor, among other business interests, are lobbying in Washington, D.C. for as much as 15,000 to 35,000 foreign nationals to be allowed employment as contract workers in the CNMI, according to Delegate Gregoro Kilili C. Sablan yesterday. That 35,000-worker demand, he said, would amount to about 65 percent of the CNMI\u2019s population and result in irrevocable changes to the Commonwealth that should be questioned.<\/p>\n
\u201cHow much is enough for us?\u201d and \u201cWho will it benefit?\u201d are questions that should be asked, Sablan told reporters yesterday.<\/p>\n
The federal government in October set the annual limit for contract worker permits for next fiscal year at 12,999, a one-thousand drop from last year, as federal immigration officials looks to phase out the contract worker program that federal law mandates an end in 2019.<\/p>\n
In an interview with reporters yesterday at his office in Susupe, Sablan compared the $13 billion reported investment on the table to the \u201cThe Wharf\u201d in Washington, D.C., a mega-project that he said would amount to several buildings, restaurants, apartments and condos, office streets, boat slips, 27 acres of land, 50 acres of water\u2014all coming with six years of permitting.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s going to cost $1.5 billion. And here in the Northern Marianas, we are talking about $13 billion,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Sablan said there have been conversations in the Capitol about increasing the number of CW workers. Some have suggested 15,000 workers, he said, while others have gone up to as many as 35,000.<\/p>\n
\u201cThose are numbers being tossed at me\u2026by different business interests primarily,\u201d Sablan said when asked.<\/p>\n
When pressed for more details, he said, \u201cI am aware that a casino has retained lobbyists in D.C. Yes. To work on both the CW workers and the Chinese visa-waiver [program].\u201d<\/p>\n
He was responding to a question from Saipan Tribune on whether Imperial Pacific CNMI (LLC)\u2014the owner of the Saipan casino that has reported project demands requiring more than 10,000 workers\u2014were lobbying in the Capitol.<\/p>\n
However, as this develops, Sablan said he has taken a backseat to the contract worker issue for now out of respect for Gov. Eloy S. Inos\u2019 request for 902 negotiations with the White House to hammer out a worker program package\u2014believed to be a new visa class for the CNMI\u2014for eventual introduction in the U.S. Congress.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhile the governor is going through the 902 effort, these people are going through another effort. \u2026Out of respect for the governor and his request for 902 consultation, I have taken a pause in my approach to this 2019 problem, but of course, if there is a free-for-all, then I am going to start doing my part.\u201d<\/p>\n
On the visa-waiver program\u2014which allows thousands of Chinese to travel as tourists into the CNMI without a visa\u2014Sablan noted this is \u201cdiscretionary\u201d and dependent on the Secretary of Homeland Security.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have not heard anything recently that would alarm me to its being discontinued,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Right-sizing development<\/strong><\/p>\n Sablan\u2019s comments yesterday echo recent concerns of the Saipan Chamber of Commerce, which has expressed unease about the roughly six large developments in the CNMI that are nascent or ongoing despite a clear lack of a sufficient local, foreign, or national workforce.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Chamber has been asking for a deep look at this,\u201d Chamber president Alex Sablan said last month, after the recent cut in contract worker limit. \u201cWhat we\u2019ve been asking for is planned development. I think we need to right-size some of these projects like the Best Sunshine project. We believe it\u2019s way too big\u2026because of the lack of resources\u2014human resources, infrastructure, many different facets of our islands.\u201d<\/p>\n Some Inos administration officials have also expressed concern about rampant development, Saipan Tribune learned, noting that approving every project that wishes to invest in the CNMI would be irresponsible. However, they urge that solutions\u2014and not necessarily anti-casino or anti-development solutions\u2014must be developed, as there will remain a shortage of workers even without future development after 2019, Saipan Tribune gathered recently.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" A casino investor, among other business interests, are lobbying in Washington, D.C. for as much…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":47,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[94],"tags":[56,26,118,38],"class_list":["post-215216","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-headlines","tag-business-3","tag-cnmi","tag-cw","tag-saipan-tribune"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/215216","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\/47"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=215216"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/215216\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=215216"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=215216"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=215216"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}