Inos says no request yet for casino deal amendment over sites

Gov. Eloy S. Inos acknowledged Thursday Best Sunshine International Ltd.’s ongoing efforts to find locations for its $3.14-billion integrated casino resort on Saipan, but said there is no request yet to amend the casino license agreement over development sites.

The casino license agreement allows Best Sunshine to use up to three development sites, knowing that finding extensive land with access to a good quality beach for an integrated casino resort is a challenge.

Under the agreement, the governor may increase the number of casino development sites if Best Sunshine requests so if the developer and the CNMI government are “unable to identify adequate suitable sites,” among other things.

“They’re still trying to select some sites right now,” the governor said in an interview at the signing of a proclamation yesterday declaring Sept. 14 to 20 “Child Passenger Week.”

He added that Best Sunshine has not requested “to make the adjustment but that’s part of the understanding.”

Best Sunshine is requesting the Department of Public Lands to allow them to lease the Marpi site where Kan Pacific’s Mariana Resort & Spa is currently located.

Mariana Resort’s lease expires in April 2018 but it is also asking the government to allow them to have a new lease.

The governor said the government has invited Mariana Resort “to the table and that’s been the process.”

“We wrote them a letter saying your lease is coming up, things like that, tell us what your plans are, come in and talk to us,” he said, adding that this is also the same with other hotels with expiring public land leases.

The CNMI, under the casino license agreement, “agrees to actively assist the licensee in efforts to secure suitable property for the required land.” DPL has been assisting Best Sunshine in finding a suitable land.

Rep. Christopher Leon Guerrero (Ind-Saipan) said Thursday that DPL could offer Best Sunshine the nearly 10 hectares of public lands also in Marpi that Tan Holdings earlier withdrew from and was later on offered to E Land’s Micronesia Resort Inc.

Leon Guerrero said he, too, doesn’t want to see Mariana Resort forced out of its hotel property. He said the CNMI can both have Mariana Resort and Best Sunshine, instead of forcing one out of business.

Kan Pacific/Mariana Resort is one of the only few remaining major Japanese investments in the CNMI. It said the Japan market should not be disregarded. It should be preserved and cultivated, adding that China and Russian markets are dependent on the visa waiver program, “which can be changed or ended at any time by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.”