‘Private lands first before public lands for Saipan casino’

Department of Public Lands Secretary Pete A. Tenorio recommends that the applicant for a license to develop a minimum $2 billion casino resort on Saipan check out private lands first before setting their sight on available public lands.

If applicant Best Sunshine International Ltd. is granted a Saipan casino license, it would be required to build at least 2,000 guest rooms, which would require a large tract of land.

Terence Tay, chief operating officer of Best Sunshine International Ltd., said they are “still looking” for a property that would best suit their planned “iconic” development.

But this would still depend on whether the Lottery Commission grants them a casino license.

Tenorio said if there are no private lands that could accommodate the casino applicant’s needs, then that would be the time to look at public lands.

“It will be a good gesture. I think people here are going to be engaged in an industry that is long-term supposedly. It’s a good gesture for them to explore the possibilities. Who knows? Privately-owned land would have much better economical rate than public land, depends on what their final agreement is,” Tenorio said in an interview after a House Ways and Means Committee hearing on DPL’s fiscal year 2015 budget yesterday on Capital Hill.

He said private lands can be leased for up to 55 years, whereas public lands are only up to 40 years. Leases on public and private lands can be extended, however.

Under the law, the exclusive Saipan casino license is for a period of up to 40 years.

Best Sunshine’s proposed integrated resort development has four phases, the grand opening for which is in 2020.

The first phase includes a 401-room hotel, a casino, food and beverage outlets, retail shops, duty free shop, themed entertainment, and spa and wellness facilities. If granted a license, the first phase will be built in 2017-2018.

The second phase, expected for completion in 2018-2019, includes the construction of a 401-room upscale hotel, food and beverage outlets, and health and aesthetics facilities.

The third phase, according to Best Sunshine’s plan, will be completed in 2019 and includes the construction of a high-end 1,001-room hotel, another casino, retail, theater, more food and beverage outlets, and a grand ballroom, among others.

The fourth and last phase, to be completed in 2020, includes the construction of 200 villas.

Meanwhile, the DPL secretary acknowledged limited public lands on Saipan, where over 2,500 households are on the homestead waiting list.

“Homestead comes first, of course. The commercial requirement is secondary and I think those two uses are completely different,” Tenorio added.

DPL has started assessing homestead lots previously awarded but have since been abandoned, for redistribution to others on the homestead waiting list on Saipan.

They have so far identified 144 of those abandoned or defaulted homestead lots on Saipan, and they expect the numbers to change as the assessment continues.

“The intent is to make use of those lots that have been abandoned…make use of them, at least to accommodate some people that have been waiting for the longest time. It’s not enough because the outstanding list now [has] over 2,500. You can never accommodate [all]. We are running out of public lands, I told the Legislature,” he said.