Any port in a storm, Tinian casino hits a snag
Saipan? The Tinian Ocean View Resort and Casino is up and ready to open, but that depends on whether or not the CNMI government would allow it to open at all.
Bridge Investment Group, the casino? s developer, said it has spent more than $ 13 million on the relocation and construction of the casino facilities since 2014.
But the opening of the casino? built on a portion of the Tinian Harbor leased from the Commonwealth Ports Authority? has been put on hold due to a regulatory barrier.
Permitting CNMI agencies refused to issue BIG a master siting permit for Tinian Ocean View, saying the proposed activities at the facilities did not meet the technical definition of? port-related activities.?
As far as BIG is concerned, the project has all the elements that would qualify it as a port-related undertaking. The project? is in the? highest? use category because it involves activities on the APC shoreline. The casino will serve as a hotel accommodation for passengers who arrive on Tinian via the ferry.
BIG said the first phase of construction is a ferry terminal that will provide roll-on / roll-off of vehicle services for Tinian residents that will address the lack of consistent flights to the island and will assist BIG with meeting the needs of BIG? s customers.
The law is not ambiguous: the Tinian Ocean View Resort and Casino is a? project? and that the ferry is undeniably a port-related activity,? reads the online launched by BIG last month on change. org.( Pacific Island Times News Staff)
Solomon Islands gear up for elections
Honiara? Registration for the 2018 elections in Solomon Islands will start in June, according to Minister for Home Affairs and Deputy Prime Minister Manasseh Maelanga.
Maelanga said the current national budget does not have allocation for the registration but funds will be made available through a supplementary budget.
He said the issue of absentee voting is currently in its consultation process, with electoral officers visiting all provinces to discuss the matter before considering it in their reforms for the next elections.
Almost 300,000 people, many of them first-time voters, were eligible to cast their ballots for the 400 candidates vying for 50 seats at that time.
The last election was seen as a test of the country ' s stability after the Regional Assistance Mission to Solomon Islands( RAMSI) spent 10 years and $ 2.6 billion( US $ 333 million) restoring law and order following ethnic violence.
RAMSI has also brought in almost 100 officers from Australia, New Zealand, the Cook Islands, Vanuatu,
Manasseh Maelanga
Papua New Guinea, Tonga and Tuvalu as a contingency. This coming election will be the first since RAMSI departs Solomon Islands this coming June.( Solomon Star / PacNews)
The 2018 national general election is likely to be held toward the end of next year. The last election was conducted on Nov. 19, 2014.
21