Kensington warms up for today’s grand opening

Kensington Hotel Saipan president Myung Wook “Matthew” Park, right, joins, from right, Division of Parks and Recreation director Eli Cabrera, Saipan and Northern Islands Municipal Council vice chair Alice Igitol, H&H Construction’s Herman P. Sablan, and MDA Enterprise president Abul Bashar in preparing to cut the ribbon in yesterday’s ceremony at the Pau Pau Beach Park. (Jon Perez)

E-Land Group and Kensington Hotel officials held a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the Pau Pau Beach Park, a sort of a warm-up event for the Korean-based conglomerate’s opening of its flagship project on Saipan. The former Nikko Hotel Saipan and Palm Resort Saipan officially re-opens today under E-Land’s known brand of luxury hotels.

Kensington, after months of delay, formally opens at 5:30pm today with E-Land rebranding the former Palms Resort. The ceremony will be held at the hotel lobby area.

This was part of E-Land’s Stage 1 project for its Saipan master plan that included adding features to Coral Ocean Point and Pacific Islands Club, two other hotels they own. Kensington Saipan carries a marine cruise team since the existing structure is shaped like a cruise ship.

Kensington Hotel president Myung Wook “Matthew” Park, who is also Coral Ocean’s general manager, said this represents E-Land’s presence on Saipan. “Expect our continued support and it has been our pleasure to always help the community.”

Pau Pau Beach Park

Park led the ribbon-cutting ceremony of the beach park yesterday that was also attended by E-Land Foundation and Global Corporate Social Responsibility Center assistant officer Jieun Ko, Kensington assistant human resources manager and CSR head Debra Inos, Coral Ocean HR supervisor Marge Binuya, Division of Parks and Recreation director Eli Cabrera, Saipan and Northern Islands Municipal Council vice chair Alice Igitol, H&H Construction’s Herman P. Sablan, and MDA Enterprise president Abul Bashar.

E-Land has been adopting several areas and facilities on Saipan as part of its CSR campaign and corporate management philosophy. The Unai Dangkulo Beach Park near Coral Ocean’s 18th hole, the 13 Fishermen Monument, and Minatchom Atdao are the other projects that are either ongoing or done.

“We thank CNMI government officials that allowed us to renovate and repair these facilities. We expect to receive the continued support of the various government agencies with our other projects here on Saipan,” said Park.

E-Land’s appeal to community

That’s why Inos and Binuya made a heartfelt plea to the community to help them in taking care of the facilities that they have adopted on Saipan. Kensington is in charge of cleaning and maintenance at Pau Pau, while Coral Ocean has Unai Dangkulo.

Inos said this is a testament of E-Land’s commitment in doing its share to help the community most specially in developing the northern side of Saipan. “The northern side to [have] a sustainable environment and safe infrastructure for our community and tourist visitors to enjoy.”

“Kensington has adopted Pau Pau Beach that’s why we’re appealing to the community to help us in maintaining the facilities and keeping the area clean,” said Inos.

Repairing and repainting of the five pavilions, tables, benches, barbecue pits, and fences, creating a children’s playground from recycled materials, and constructing additional benches are the projects they have done at the Pau Pau Beach Park.

Over at Unai Dangkulu BeachPark, Coral Ocean Golf Resort constructed a parking area, built six new benches and three barbecue pits, and repainted the existing three pavilions. It opened to the public last December.

Binuya, however, was saddened that some people who use their adopted facility don’t take good care of it especially during weekdays. “People leave their trash at the pavilion or at the beach. As much as possible, we appeal to the public, to carry their trash after they use the facility.”

“Coral Ocean Golf Resort staff and personnel do cleanups every week and we collect the trash other people leave behind. We’re in charge of the maintenance but I hope the community would do their share,” Binuya added.

Eco warriors

Inos said that they would also go to various schools on the island to recruit members for its Environment Youth Alliance. This is Kensington CSR’s intention of having school students as partners in keeping the facilities that they adopted clean.

“We plan to conduct presentations to various schools to show the youth on how they could help in keeping our beaches clean and how they could help in various environmental projects,” added Inos.

“They can help in other areas and in environmental projects that we plan to accomplish. This is all part of E-Land’s environmental protection program.”

Tourism infrastructure development

Ko said E-Land has other plans that are on its developmental stage as a part of their dedication for environmental protection and tourism infrastructure development.

“We have done the research on how to develop some of the public infrastructure in tourist places on the island. Vandalism is a serious issue so we ask everyone to keep the facilities and the area clean,” said Ko.

“We’re looking how to further develop the tourists sites in this island. We are really requesting the community to help us in maintaining the facilities.”

Kensington also installed two portable restrooms at Pau Pau Beach Park for public use at their convenience as visitors cannot use the broken restroom now. They are still waiting for clearance from concerned government agencies since they have to fix the old water pipes and install new ones.

Ko said that Kensington employees will have regular beach cleanups every Saturday from the hotel’s beach side to the Pau Pau Beach Park. “We want to involve all of our employees to community service and taking care of the environment.”

“This pavilion belongs to the community and [fixing it up] is our way of saying that we are a good neighbor to society. We are here to grow with the CNMI and its people,” said Park.

Park added that they also took into consideration the security of the public who will use the facility.

“We will take care of the facilities here but we are also asking the public to do their share. We’re also discussing security measures for the public’s safety,” he added.

“This is for the whole community to use. I encourage everyone to protect it and enjoy spending your time with your family and friends. We must celebrate but we must also maintain its cleanliness,” Park added.