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CNMI
Virus inflicts further pain on IPI Imperial Pacific International says it’s committed to completing its project on Saipan, even though it continues to struggle on multiple fronts, including tax bills, worker shortages and now the fallout from the Covid-19 virus.
“T
oday, the new coronavirus outbreak is impacting the world, the CNMI tourism industry, and our community at a speed which has already outpaced the SARS epidemic of 2003. Impact on travel demands throughout all of Asia began weeks ago and although our company is faced with the difficult decision to mitigate these challenges, IPI still holds true to the CNMI and its people,” the company said in a statement. “Our company has struggled, our employees have struggled, and our ability to create a steady stream of income has suffered. Throughout all of these unexpected adversities, IPI did its best to honor the commitments that it made to the
Asia Gaming Briefings | March 2020
CNMI back in 2015,” it added. The IPI statement also emphasized its contributions to CNMI, though offering some numerical figures that critics were hesitant to believe. “Since the award of the casino license, IPI created thousands of jobs and generated countless business opportunities for hundreds of local businesses. To date, IPI has invested around $1 billion in the CNMI and paid over $300 million in taxes and fees to the government.” It claimed it had “lost over $500 million accumulatively.” The Hong Kong-listed operator was scheduled to have finished the project 36 months from the awarding of the license, but
was granted an extension in 2018 until no later than February 2021. Part of the delay has been caused by a shortage of labour, with the government clamping down on a key form of visa under which its workers entered the Commonwealth. As of early this year, the company again warned that it did not have sufficient labour. IPI vice president for construction Eric Poon says the company is still waiting on the approval of “hundreds” of H-2B visa applications made in 2019, which is key to completing construction of its hotel tower on time. Poon said that the resorts’ hotel beachfront villas and construction of the North Wing are now completed, with only furniture installation
