Casino commission board to visit Grand Mariana construction site

Commonwealth Casino Commission chair Juan M. Sablan, left, and executive director Edward Deleon Guerrero look on a document as they meet with officials of Best Sunshine International, Ltd. in yesterday’s board meeting at the Joeten Kiyu Public Library’s video teleconference room. (Erwin Encinares)

The Commonwealth Casino Commission’s board will be making a site visit to the ongoing construction of the Grand Mariana Casino Hotel and Resort this month to personally see and inspect the facility being built by Best Sunshine International, Ltd.

Commonwealth Casino Commission executive director Edward Deleon Guerrero said they have asked BSI officials to set a date where they could accommodate them. “We’re thinking of having a site inspection to see first hand the progress of the ongoing construction of the hotel casino.”

“My understanding is the casino portion will open first; then the first and second floors including three restaurants so they could offer service to the players, VIPs and other high rollers,” added Deleon Guerrero.

Chair Juan M. Sablan, vice chair Joseph C. Reyes, and commissioners Justin Manglona, Martin San Nicolas, and Alvaro Santos, and legal counsel Michael Ernest are the other members of the CCC board.

The board held a meeting yesterday at the Joeten Kiyu Public Library’s video teleconference room where officials from BSI and Imperial Pacific International also updated them on the status of the bond offering, the financial issues. BSI is a subsidiary of IPI, a Hong Kong-based conglomerate that holds the lone casino license on Saipan.

Grand Mariana’s casino is scheduled to open by February next year with the entire hotel expected to be fully operational in August, the deadline on the licensee agreement that they entered with the CNMI government.

Early this month, BSI officials—led by chief executive officer Mark Brown, chief services officer Tao Xing, and company executive Xi Jia Bo—updated members of the House of Representatives on the status of the Grand Mariana’s construction at the House chamber of the Hon. Jesus P. Mafnas Memorial Building.

BSI officials said they would address all issues raised by the House members that included on how to minimize the noise of the ongoing construction once the casino opens in early 2017.

“The entire hotel needs to open by August because there is a time frame that is stated on the licensee agreement. It says August is the end of the timeline that started from the time the license agreement was signed. There’s a sequence of time where they must finish with the work,” said Deleon Guerrero.

He added that barring any other hitches, the first phase of BSI’s multi-million dollar project is scheduled to open on the target date. “Barring any hitches or God forbids a catastrophe just like a typhoon, they would finish right on schedule.”

“[Unlike] last year where Saipan was hit by Typhoon Soudelor, there was some sort of shortage on cement, and other stuff,” said Deleon Guerrero.

Torres’ Nevada meeting

Gov. Ralph DLG Torres, who left last Saturday, will be meeting with officials each of the Nevada Gaming Control Board and the University Nevada, Las Vegas’ International Gaming Institute. Torres is also in Las Vegas to meet with the Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders committee Advisory Committee formed during the Republican National Convention.

“They [Torres and CNMI delegation], from what I understand, are going to meet with [NGCB] and [UNLV] International Gamin Institute. And maybe, they are going to look around some of the casinos,” said Deleon Guerrero.

“We previously worked with [UNLV], they are like our consultants and they provided training to us. We also worked with the NGCB, in the sense that we helped each other in certain investigation issues and other related areas,” he added.