By Moneth G. Deposa
Variety News Staff

THE Department of Public Lands has finally endorsed the lease agreement proposal of a new Tinian casino investor, and has submitted it to the Legislature for approval.
On Tuesday, Tinian officials met with DPL Secretary John Del Rosario Jr. to inquire about the proposed land lease agreement of the Marianas Resort and Development Corp. Inc.
“Finally the project will push through because the lease agreement has been approved by DPL and is now awaiting the approval of the Legislature,” said the chairman of the Tinian legislative delegation, Sen. Henry San Nicolas.
He said, the lease agreement between MRDC and DPL had been delayed since Aug. 2006 due to some “gray areas” that needed to be resolved by both parties.
“The lease agreement first came to the Legislature in Aug. 2006 and we mentioned some ‘gray areas’ about the agreement…but after that we did not hear anything about its status,” said San Nicolas, Covenant-Tinian.
The Tinian Casino Gaming Control Commission issued the license to MRDC on Sept. 27, 2006 for its $179 million resort development on Tinian which will include a golf course, hotel and casino.
San Nicolas said he expects the Legislature to decide on the lease agreement soon.
“Our concern is that the lease agreement has been pending for the longest time and we need to expedite it for the project to move,” he said. “Tinian is anticipating a lot of projects and we have to work on them one by one,” he said.
According to San Nicolas, their concern about the MRDC lease agreement was the liability of each party in case the lessee failed to pay rent.
“We anticipated a scenario where an operator does not pay the lease for the land. Can the DPL then order the closure of the casino? Now it’s clear that DPL has no authority to do what we don’t want to happen — that’s the concern we had and as I understand, it has already been cleared and addressed,” he said.
Part of the identified site for the MRDC golf course is the Tinian dumpsite, which is now being considered for transfer by the municipal government.
“We’re looking at three areas for the dump relocation because as leaders of Tinian, we feel ashamed that we cannot offer these investors a comfortable site to operate,” San Nicolas said.
He said MRDC’s golf course will complement Tinian Dynasty Hotel & Casino which has been operating since 1998 and remains the island’s only casino facility.
Another company, Bridge Investment Group, said it wants to invest about $150 million in a new hotel and casino on Tinian.