Previous Story
‘QC filing huge step in ACG investment’
-
- Commonwealth Development Authority executive director Manuel A. Sablan, right, watches as CDA economic development analyst Carline B. Sablan receives the Qualifying Certificate documents submitted by Alter City Group yesterday at the CDA office in San Jose. (Jon Perez)
-
- Alter City Group chief executive officer Edvon Sze, fourth from right, joins other ACG officers, the Tinian delegation, and Commonwealth Development Authority officials for a group photo after submitting their Qualifying Certificate application yesterday at the CDA office in San Jose. (Jon Perez)
Sze, along with ACG senior vice president for gaming and business development Albert Davia and finance and accounting manager Ador Songcuan, personally turned over the required documents to the CDA office in San Jose yesterday.
CDA executive director Manuel A. Sablan and economic development analyst Carline B. Sablan received the documents.
Carline Sablan said that Alter City first filed its QC application a few months ago but the documents they submitted were incomplete.
The qualifying certificate program was created to lure new investors and businesses by granting them partial or full tax breaks and other incentives over a fixed number of years. The application comes with a $15,000 filing fee.
It was not immediately learned what type of tax breaks Alter City Group is applying for and the total amount of the incentives they want.
Sze said the QC filing shows that Alter City Group is serious with its investment on Tinian. The Macau-based company is a major investor on Tinian.
“This is a clear step in ACG’s plans to start the project on Tinian,” Sze told Saipan Tribune.
Alter City Group is planning to build two hotel complexes, two casinos, six service apartment complexes, villas, a world-class 18-hole golf course and club house, a water park, a cultural center and museum for its multibillion-dollar Plumeria Golf and Casino Resort.
Alter City Group plans to build the Plumeria project on a 154-hectare land located at the scenic Puntan Diablo Cove.
The company was allowed to operate a casino on Tinian after the 19th CNMI Legislature passed Public Law 19-23 that allows investors to build and operate casinos on Tinian and Rota.
Carline B. Sablan said the CDA would have 90 days to review and come up with a recommendation whether to accept or reject the application, which they would submit to the Governor’s Office.
“Once CDA certifies an application complete, it has 90 days to formulate a recommendation to the governor,” said Sablan in an email to the Saipan Tribune.
“The governor, in turn, has 45 days from receipt of CDA’s recommendation to act. Applicants are asked to allow four to five months for the process to run its course,” she added.
Senate vice president Francisco M. Borja, and Sens. Francisco Q. Cruz and Jude U. Hofschneider, and Rep. Edwin P. Aldan were also present during yesterday’s submission at CDA.
