Imperial Pacific requested yet another extension. No wait, actually IPI didn\u2019t even have to request the extension. The Casino Commission that\u2019s supposed to regulate them already requested if for them, pre-emptively.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s kind of like a sports referee who yells out \u201cthat wasn\u2019t a foul!\u201d before the play even happens. I really don\u2019t like how it smells.<\/p>\n
I am a big supporter of IPI and the casino. I\u2019m grateful for the money they pour into our tax coffers and into our economy, but we have to treat them as a business we regulate and evaluate, and not as a favorite child who can get away with anything and everything.<\/p>\n
Imperial Pacific (at that time called Best Sunshine) promised to complete the casino by early 2017. They signed and agreed, as a professional company that supposedly knows what it\u2019s doing. They agreed to spend an initial amount (just the initial amount) of two billion dollars or maybe it was seven billion dollars, and build a hotel, or maybe two hotels, or even three hotels or maybe two hotels and some villas. The hotel was supposed to be a \u201csix star,\u201d whatever that means, or an \u201cintegrated resort\u201d or maybe an \u201ceco-resort\u201d after another week. They figured that changing their name from Best Sunshine to Imperial Pacific would make us forget those promises, but those of us paying attention haven\u2019t forgotten.<\/p>\n
Remember the extension request the first time around? Their excuse was the typhoon.<\/p>\n
Why did we grant them that extension? Even the barbecue shack down the street knows that this part of the world has typhoons. How could IPI not know that?<\/p>\n
We shouldn\u2019t have let them use the \u201cdog ate our homework\u201d excuse, but we did.<\/p>\n
And now, they\u2019re using the lack of labor as an excuse. Guys, we need to have a chat and it\u2019s nothing personal, but the U.S. Immigration regulations have been around longer than your company has! Weren\u2019t you aware of these rules when you signed the agreement? Weren\u2019t you aware that your contractors can\u2019t use \u201ctourist\u201d labor? Weren\u2019t you aware that the CW cap will decline? Did you ever hear about that? It\u2019s the most often discussed thing on Saipan. For all the experts you claim to have on staff, how can you not know something that even my dog knows?<\/p>\n
IPI was unable to raise cash in the credit markets. They shopped their bonds around, Nobody wanted to lend them money. Cui Lijie ended up having to lend the company her own personal money. The credit markets didn\u2019t believe that IPI could finish the project. But somehow, our own Commonwealth Casino Commission thinks they know more than professional investors?<\/p>\n
So where\u2019s the seven billion dollar \u201cinitial investment\u201d? Does IPI even have that kind of money? Let\u2019s look at their balance sheet:<\/p>\n
https:\/\/quotes.wsj.com\/HK\/XHDG\/1076\/financials\/annual\/balance-sheet<\/p>\n
IPI has 286 million HDK in cash and short-term investments. That\u2019s the money it has to spend; 286 million HDK is 36 million USD. That\u2019s it. There are no billions here. Can they really finish the hotel with just $36 million, when they claimed that they\u2019ll be investing $7 billion (that\u2019s $7 thousand million)? My dear Casino Commissioners, this is not hard math!<\/p>\n
Maybe IPI has a rabbit it can pull out of its hat. Great! Let\u2019s make them prove it. Let\u2019s make them post a performance bond. That\u2019s insurance that quarantees they will meet a deadline with the project. Better yet, let\u2019s open up the casino license to an additional operator. One with enough money to actually do the job. A company that has only $36 million is not exactly in the big leagues.<\/p>\n
Oh, but we already agreed to the deal in the original license agreement? Twice now, IPI has wanted the agreement changed, to their own benefit. Because the dog ate their homework. If they can demand a modification to the agreement, why can\u2019t we?<\/p>\n
It\u2019s time for us to start looking out for the interests of the CNMI and its people. It\u2019s time to change the casino license agreement for our benefit. This is not a one-way street.<\/p>\n
Let\u2019s make IPI stand up to its promises. Let\u2019s make them post a bond, and let\u2019s show them the possibility of their exclusive license becoming no longer exclusive. It\u2019s only fair. They asked for favors, and we can get some favors too!<\/p>\n
In the real world, any concession is a tit-for-tat. You get something and you give something. I don\u2019t know what the CNMI has been \u201cgetting\u201d from IPI, although I have some ideas.<\/p>\n
Let\u2019s change things around. Let\u2019s make those benefits go to our economy and our tax coffers instead of to those among our elite who are in IPI\u2019s pocket. Because while the dog ate IPI\u2019s homework, another kind of dog might be eating our lunch.<\/p>\n
Jack Muna<\/strong> Imperial Pacific requested yet another extension. No wait, actually IPI didn\u2019t even have to request the extension. The Casino Commission that\u2019s supposed to regulate them already requested if for them, pre-emptively.<\/p>\n It\u2019s kind of like a sports referee who yells out \u201cthat wasn\u2019t a foul!\u201d before the play even happens. I really don\u2019t like how it smells.<\/p>\n I am a big supporter of IPI and the casino. I\u2019m grateful for the money they pour into our tax coffers and into our economy, but we have to treat them as a business we regulate and evaluate, and not as a favorite child who can get away with anything and everything.<\/p>\n Imperial Pacific (at that time called Best Sunshine) promised to complete the casino by early 2017. They signed and agreed, as a professional company that supposedly knows what it\u2019s doing. They agreed to spend an initial amount (just the initial amount) of two billion dollars or maybe it was seven billion dollars, and build a hotel, or maybe two hotels, or even three hotels or maybe two hotels and some villas. The hotel was supposed to be a \u201csix star,\u201d whatever that means, or an \u201cintegrated resort\u201d or maybe an \u201ceco-resort\u201d after another week. They figured that changing their name from Best Sunshine to Imperial Pacific would make us forget those promises, but those of us paying attention haven\u2019t forgotten.<\/p>\n Remember the extension request the first time around? Their excuse was the typhoon.<\/p>\n Why did we grant them that extension? Even the barbecue shack down the street knows that this part of the world has typhoons. How could IPI not know that?<\/p>\n We shouldn\u2019t have let them use the \u201cdog ate our homework\u201d excuse, but we did.<\/p>\n And now, they\u2019re using the lack of labor as an excuse. Guys, we need to have a chat and it\u2019s nothing personal, but the U.S. Immigration regulations have been around longer than your company has! Weren\u2019t you aware of these rules when you signed the agreement? Weren\u2019t you aware that your contractors can\u2019t use \u201ctourist\u201d labor? Weren\u2019t you aware that the CW cap will decline? Did you ever hear about that? It\u2019s the most often discussed thing on Saipan. For all the experts you claim to have on staff, how can you not know something that even my dog knows?<\/p>\n IPI was unable to raise cash in the credit markets. They shopped their bonds around, Nobody wanted to lend them money. Cui Lijie ended up having to lend the company her own personal money. The credit markets didn\u2019t believe that IPI could finish the project. But somehow, our own Commonwealth Casino Commission thinks they know more than professional investors?<\/p>\n So where\u2019s the seven billion dollar \u201cinitial investment\u201d? Does IPI even have that kind of money? Let\u2019s look at their balance sheet:<\/p>\n https:\/\/quotes.wsj.com\/HK\/XHDG\/1076\/financials\/annual\/balance-sheet<\/p>\n IPI has 286 million HDK in cash and short-term investments. That\u2019s the money it has to spend; 286 million HDK is 36 million USD. That\u2019s it. There are no billions here. Can they really finish the hotel with just $36 million, when they claimed that they\u2019ll be investing $7 billion (that\u2019s $7 thousand million)? My dear Casino Commissioners, this is not hard math!<\/p>\n Maybe IPI has a rabbit it can pull out of its hat. Great! Let\u2019s make them prove it. Let\u2019s make them post a performance bond. That\u2019s insurance that quarantees they will meet a deadline with the project. Better yet, let\u2019s open up the casino license to an additional operator. One with enough money to actually do the job. A company that has only $36 million is not exactly in the big leagues.<\/p>\n Oh, but we already agreed to the deal in the original license agreement? Twice now, IPI has wanted the agreement changed, to their own benefit. Because the dog ate their homework. If they can demand a modification to the agreement, why can\u2019t we?<\/p>\n It\u2019s time for us to start looking out for the interests of the CNMI and its people. It\u2019s time to change the casino license agreement for our benefit. This is not a one-way street.<\/p>\n Let\u2019s make IPI stand up to its promises. Let\u2019s make them post a bond, and let\u2019s show them the possibility of their exclusive license becoming no longer exclusive. It\u2019s only fair. They asked for favors, and we can get some favors too!<\/p>\n In the real world, any concession is a tit-for-tat. You get something and you give something. I don\u2019t know what the CNMI has been \u201cgetting\u201d from IPI, although I have some ideas.<\/p>\n Let\u2019s change things around. Let\u2019s make those benefits go to our economy and our tax coffers instead of to those among our elite who are in IPI\u2019s pocket. Because while the dog ate IPI\u2019s homework, another kind of dog might be eating our lunch.<\/p>\n Jack Muna<\/strong> Imperial Pacific requested yet another extension. No wait, actually IPI didn\u2019t even have to request…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[26,3126,1091,12497],"class_list":["post-275445","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-letters-to-the-editor","tag-cnmi","tag-commonwealth-casino-commission","tag-imperial-pacific","tag-ipi"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/275445","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\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=275445"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/275445\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=275445"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=275445"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=275445"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nKoblerville, Saipan<\/em><\/p>\n
\nKoblerville, Saipan<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"