Land lease extension still in limbo

Legislators on Friday met with owners of the Rota Golf and Resort Club to discuss a proposed lease extension of the public lands it is occupying, but they had yet to decide whether to grant the request which the company said is intended to help them deal with the economic crisis.

Alarmed by the purpose of the meeting, Board of Public Lands Chairman Tomas B. Aldan flew to Rota at the last-minute in an attempt to prevent the Legislature to forge any agreement with SNM Corp., owner of the tourism facility.

The top public lands officials and at least six senators as well as some members of the House Natural Resources Committee attended the discussion. It was not a joint session by the Senate and the House as earlier reported.

According to Senate Vice President Thomas P. Villagomez, they had agreed to give way to BPL to review first the initial lease agreement with the resort before acting on the request.

SNM has asked an extension for another 15 years under the original agreement which stipulates a 25-year lease. It has been occupying the public lands for the past 10 years.

The Japanese-owned company reportedly has made the request to allow the resort to recover its investments as the business in the past two years has suffered due to the decline in tourist arrivals to the Northern Marianas for the past two years.

But the Legislature, together with BPL, will try to seek other ways to assist the resort, such as possible deferment in the lease payment or lowering the fees.

“They just feel that we have to give them extension because the economy is not good,” Villagomez said in a telephone interview after the meeting. “Are we to provide the extension or give SNM a chance to appeal to the Board of Public Lands, rather than extension, because the economy is bad?”

This is the second time the resort — one of the major attractions on Rota — has asked the CNMI government for lease extension since 1997 after the Legislature agreed to grant the request which fell through when legislators failed to vote on the proposal.

“The economy was still doing well at that time and we provided them the lease extension,” Villagomez said.

Before Friday’s meeting, Aldan wrote to Natural Resources Committee chair Rep. Manuel A. Tenorio, prodding him against pushing through with what he claimed an apparent rush to forge a deal with SNM.

He maintained the move would compromise the position of the CNMI government as the board is currently reviewing the lease for compliance on the terms and conditions, including issues of “vital importance to the Division involving lawsuits that must be addressed” by the resort. .

“Let’s not rush and later find out that the people’s lands have been compromised by its leaders,” Aldan said in the letter.