BSI details employment effects, labor demands in project file

Best Sunshine International, Ltd has forecasted construction, labor, and guest numbers in the major siting permit application for their “Grand Mariana Casino Resort” in Garapan, for which a public hearing is set near the end of the month.

BSI, as the exclusive casino licensee, will build 2,000 new rooms over three locations on island with certain requirements, among others, for local labor and public contributions.

In 2014, Hotel Association of the Northern Marianas Islands contributed $13.2 million in hotel occupancy taxes and $4.4 million in gross revenue receipts to the CNMI government, BSI’s overall project is expected to significantly add to this if realized.

In year one, BSI’s casino resort destination is forecasted to represent a visitor arrival increase of approximately 15 percent over 2013 arrivals.

“Assuming tourism arrivals remain constant, the BSI development is projected to increase arrivals by approximately 60 percent,” BSI writes in their major siting application project file.

BSI also notes a strong possibility that arrivals will increase in general as the overall tourism industry grows as a result of their proposed development.

In year one and two of their “business plan,” BSI projects 65,700 guests. In year three, they project 197,100 guests. In year four, this is projected to grow to 229,000 guests.

In year five, BSI projects 246,375 guests. And from year six to 10, they project 262,800 guests.

Labor requirements
BSI, as exclusive casino liscense, is also required to meet a 65 percent-to-35 percent ratio of local and foreign labor when staffing their casino resort.

This force mixture will spread across their planned hotel, casino, wellness facility, retails, restaurant, and other resort operations.

In years one and two, BSI projects that out of a total 650 staff, there will be a required 423 local workers.

In year three, out of a projected total of 1,500 workers, BSI will be required to have 975 locals working.

This number grows to 1,138 locals working in year four, out a total 1,750 workers.

In year five, this increases to 1,219 local workers out of 1,875 workers total.

From business year six to seven, BSI would be required to have 1,300 locals employed out of their total 2,000 projected employees.

Construction
BSI’s proposed construction costs are estimated at $165 million, as also disclosed in their earlier Zoning application.

However, they note, this estimate is still under review.

Construction expenses will be spread across local and foreign labor, local and foreign construction firms, and local and foreign suppliers of material and equipment, BSI writes.

Taxes
BSI projects tax revenues associated with the proposed casino facility to be $55,940,522, $79,141,780, and $80,205,815, for years 2017, 2018, and 2019, respectively.

These revenues will come from business gross receipts tax, room tax, alcohol/cigarette taxes, payroll tax, CNMI annual taxes, and others.

For 2017, 2018, and 2019, for their 1,800 employees they project an average salary of $27,040, $28,122, and $29,246.

Calculating CNMI and FICA taxes and employer payroll tax, BSI estimates $10,367,136, $10,781,821, and $11,213,094 in total taxes to federal and the local government from 2017 to 2019, respectively.