It looks like a long road ahead for the opening of the casino operator Imperial Pacific International Holdings Limited in the Commonwealth of The Northern Mariana Islands. It has declared that its first phase of its new Imperial pacific Resort and Hotel Saipan is scheduled to open in the first quarter of 2017. Imperial Pacific International Holdings Limited had previously stated that the new Saipan venue would open “by 2017 Chinese New Year” which begins from January 28 however it used a Wednesday filing with the Hong Kong Stock Exchange to reveal that this target for the $500 million development had been pushed back with a soft opening now expected before the end of March.
Cai Lingli, Executive Director for Imperial Pacific International Holdings Limited, declared that “construction had been “progressing smoothly with over 2,000 workers working around-the-clock to ensure early completion while previous filings explained that the 350-suite Saipan venue designed by architectural practice Steel man Partners is set to feature 200 to 300 gaming tables along with 300 to 400 slots.”
As per the reports published in the Marians Variety news paper yesterday regarding some of the crew that have been helping to build the Imperial Pacific Resort And Hotel Saipan near the town of Garapan, that these group of workers had staged a public protest last month over unpaid wages had now received their cash and left the island. This revelation concerning the 146 employees of subcontractor Sino Great Wall International Engineering Company Limited reportedly came from Edith Deleon Guerrero, Labor Department Secretary for the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, who moreover explained that her department had been diligently monitoring the situation since the December 16 protest.
“The employees received their pay in the morning and then by mid-afternoon they departed the Commonwealth Of The Northern Mariana Islands,” Deleon Guerrero told the newspaper. “The Labor Department visited the lodgings of the workers at the end of last week and found no remaining workers as of December 26.”
“[The] Commonwealth Of The Northern Mariana Islands Labor Department will continue to work hard to protect the rights of employees in all issues involving their employment,” Deleon Guerrero told the Marianas Variety. “We will continue to build strength in our enforcement capacity pursuant to Northern Mariana Islands Administrative Code Chapter 80 Labor Department Employment Rules And Regulations. This is the rule we follow and is applicable to all businesses in the Commonwealth Of The Northern Mariana Islands regardless of capitalization size, industry and/or sector, foreign or local owned. The rule we follow does not differentiate any of these, hence it is the rule that the Commonwealth Of The Northern Mariana Islands Labor Department is mandated to enforce and must follow, nothing else.”
Hu Rongyu, Vice-President for Suzhou Gold Mantis Construction Decoration Company Limited, told the newspaper, “Because we understand that they want to celebrate the Chinese New Year with their families, we allowed them to go on vacation,” “Now those who want to leave are protesting and are demanding the same bonus. We pay them properly and we agreed to negotiate.”
