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‘MRDC should give timetable for $300M casino project’
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Posted on Mar 15 2012
By Clarissa David
Reporter
Reporter
Tinian Mayor Ramon M. Dela Cruz maintained that casino investor Marianas Resort Development Corp. should give the government a “timetable” as to when they intend to start construction for their proposed multi-million project despite being up-to-date with their public land lease payments.
MRDC plans to build a $300-million Matua Bay Casino Resort on Tinian, inclusive of an 18-hole championship golf course.
“If these people cannot continue to hold on to public land even if they’re paying the lease, we have to give them some kind of timetable to start construction because there’s a lot of people waiting for that public land,” Dela Cruz said in an interview.
According to Dela Cruz, a major construction company out of Taiwan is interested on the property being leased by MRDC.
“It’s one of the biggest construction companies out of Taiwan. They have holdings throughout the world; they have quite a few affiliates out of Honolulu, in New York, and now they’re building almost an entire city in Turkey,” he said.
Dela Cruz declined to identify the name of the company but added that it is also interested in investing into Tinian Dynasty Hotel and Casino and in the island’s infrastructure.
Although MRDC is “very current” with its land lease, the mayor argued that the company should only be given time to “break ground” in the next six months or give it to another investor like the Taiwanese company.
Dela Cruz said representatives of this Taiwanese company will be back again by the end of the month for another round of meeting.
He said that another investor, Neo Gold Wings, has transferred its interest to Vitala, a major financing company out of Italy and Germany.
Dela Cruz noted, however, that Department Public Lands Secretary Oscar M. Babauta informed him that its land lease has already been terminated “so they have to start all over again.”
