Babauta-Torres calls for lease renewal of Mariana Resort

Saipan casino license holder Best Sunshine International, Ltd. made its interest known this month to the Department of Public Lands in its bid to take over the Mariana Resort and Spa when its lease expires four years from now in 2018.

The more than $30-million hotel resort development and related infrastructure was financed, developed, and is presently occupied by a Japanese private interest.

The CNMI government has reportedly halted all ongoing negotiations with Mariana Resort when it was already close to reaching an agreement in renewing the public land lease held by the Japanese company Kan Pacific.

Mariana Resort is the oldest Japanese hotel investment on Saipan, with Kan Pacific having operated this investment here for 36 years. Mariana Resort remains one of the few Japanese-held investments on Saipan.

Mariana Resort employs over 80 local employees and provides tourism activities that are unique to the CNMI, such as horse riding and go-kart racing. The customers of Mariana Resort are mostly Japanese.

At its recent fundraising dinner held at Mariana Resort earlier in the month, Juan N. Babauta said, “Mariana Resort is critical for our tourism industry because the number of Japanese tourists is critical to ensure continuity of flights with direct service to Tokyo and elsewhere in Japan. The Babauta-Torres team appreciates and is grateful for the commitments and efforts of Mariana Resort in supporting our tourism industry over the last 36 years.”

A Babauta-Torres administration promises to treat all existing public land lessors fairly. “We will not allow any newcomer to trample, choke, or run over functioning businesses. Instead, we will facilitate and provide assistance to all newcomers, including Best Sunshine International, to identify suitable sites. The long-term interest of the Commonwealth is to establish and harness a trusting relationship with its business partners and not to derail such business relationship and confidence.”

The Babauta-Torres team remains confident that Best Sunshine International, with DPL’s guidance, can and will find suitable and sufficient public land for an integrated casino resort, other than the site leased by Mariana Resort in Marpi.

“Accommodating Best Sunshine and continuing Mariana Resort is a win-win proposition and consistent with our platform over our commitment to work together with existing hotels and resorts to improve our tourism economy in the Commonwealth, Guam, and Micronesia, said former senator Juan S. Torres, candidate for lieutenant governor. (PR)