TO address safety issues, Imperial Pacific International on Thursday began to dismantle the tower cranes from its unfinished hotel-casino building in Garapan.
A section of tower crane No. 6 is being removed from the unfinished Imperial Pacific International hotel-casino building on Thursday.
The construction crew of IPI led by Jess Aquiningoc detached one section of tower crane No. 6 around noon, IPI Chief Executive Officer Ray Yumul said.
The rest of the tower crane was still being dismantled as of late Thursday afternoon.
Those performing the work are IPI’s in-house construction crew, Yumul said.
Department of Public Safety officers were on the ground directly below the tower crane to make sure that no one would pass by while the work was ongoing.
Aquiningoc said, “We want to let the public know, that everything is taken care of. Public safety is our No. 1 priority while we’re doing this work.”
‘Go to hell’
During the Commonwealth Casino Commission meeting that started at 10 a.m. Thursday, the issue of the tower cranes sparked a heated exchange between the commission chairman, Edward C. Deleon Guerrero, and Yumul.
Deleon Guerrero, who attended the meeting via videoconference, expressed his disappointment with IPI’s failure to meet the deadline in taking down the tower cranes.
He said it was “ridiculous” for IPI to claim that it lacked adequate funds to perform the task on time.
He said IPI apparently had not read the casino license agreement that required the casino operator to be financially suitable.
Yumul found the chairman’s comments “insulting,” and added that IPI is trying to address “all the issues” including the removal of the tower cranes.
He said if the chairman would just insult him, “better go to hell.”
Vice Chairman Ralph S. Demapan and Commissioners Ramon Dela Cruz and Marion Taitano, who were in the conference room, asked Yumul to keep his cool, adding that the chairman was just raising a serious and legitimate concern.
In an interview after the meeting, Yumul said he was not with IPI yet “when all these problems were created” while some CNMI leaders were benefitting from IPI’s money.
Now, he said, he and the remaining construction crew are cleaning up the mess, which some government officials helped create.
He added, “We wouldn’t be here if the law removing the required performance/completion bond was not repealed.”
Imperial Pacific International Chief Executive Officer Ray Yumul, back to the camera, speaks with Commonwealth Casino Commissioners Mario Taitano, Ralph Demapan and Ramon Dela Cruz during a meeting on Thursday morning. Also in the photo is CCC Executive Director Andrew Yeom, seated, right foreground.
