Mayor frets Dynasty owner might hold off Tinian plans

Tinian Mayor Ramon Dela Cruz is worried that Tinian Dynasty Hotel & Casino’s new owner, Mega Stars Overseas Ltd., will no longer pursue building a new 1,000-room hotel, a 36-hole golf course, and a $5 million water park on Tinian if it applies for—and is granted—an exclusive license to operate a casino on Saipan. 
Gov. Eloy S. Inos said Friday that the new owner of Tinian Dynasty is one of those parties he expects to apply for a Saipan casino license.

The Tinian mayor said yesterday he also got this information from the governor.

“I don’t think they will leave Tinian because they already acquired Dynasty. My concern is the future expansion of the facilities on Tinian. They might place it on hold and say wait a minute—we don’t have direct flights on Tinian, let’s put it up on Saipan,” Dela Cruz said after emerging from a meeting with the governor and other mayors.

Yesterday afternoon, a group of Korean businessmen waited in the governor’s office building lobby on Capital Hill to meet with the governor and they are reportedly also interested in applying for a casino license.

The governor said two Hong Kong-based investor groups and at least one group from Korea are among those he expects to submit applications. Lawmakers and the governor met in the past few months with Hong Kong investors who expressed interest in investing close to $3 billion in tourism-related facilities in the CNMI.

But the identities of the exclusive casino license applicants could be known in 10 days or so, the governor said.

Mega Stars plans to build a 1,000-room hotel on Kastiyu, a scenic Tinian area atop Carolinas Plateau. The planned investment in the Puntan Kastiyu project alone is estimated at $200 million.

Tinian officials, including the mayor and the municipal council, asked that the Department of Public Lands to negotiate with Mega Stars to develop the Kastiyu property rather than issue a request for proposal, since Mega Stars has already proven its commitment to Tinian by acquiring Tinian Dynasty. The governor earlier said he prefers that DPL issue an RFP instead.

Dela Cruz said he has been asking the governor to develop the Tinian airport so that it can start getting direct international flights for Tinian Dynasty Hotel & Casino and the island’s tourism.

Meanwhile, the House transmitted to the governor yesterday the casino amendment bill that the House and Senate passed last week.

The amendment bill was based on the governor and lawmakers’ agreement to address the problematic versions of the original bill that became Public Law 18-38, legalizing casino gaming on Saipan.

For years, casino gaming is legal only on Tinian and Rota. But the Senate passed for the first time in at least four years a House bill legalizing casino gaming on Saipan. Pro-casino lawmakers said “times have changed,” citing the need to generate more revenues to meet the government’s growing obligations such as restoring the 25 percent in retirees’ pension.