Marshall Islands President Jurelang Zedkaia, in his capacity as traditional chief for the property that Nauru has used since the early 1970s, has stepped up his effort to gain a court-ordered eviction of Nauru government representatives from the former Eastern Gateway Hotel property.
And he has asked the High Court to award landowners more than $600,000 in payment from the Nauru government for breaking the terms of its long-term lease for the area. Zedkaia said that the lease, which has 30 years left, provides that if Nauru leaves early it must pay future rent to owners.
Zedkaia’s move in court this week follows an Oct. 12 letter from Nauru Foreign Minister Kieren Keke to Marshall Islands Foreign Minister John Silk stating that the Nauru government has decided to “relinquish” its land lease on two properties in Majuro that Nauru has maintained since the 1970s: the former Eastern Gateway Hotel and a property with about 20 rental houses.
The written statement from the Nauru government that it wants out of the leases is the first major development to occur for the properties since Nauru established housing and hotel properties here in the 1970s. At one time, the Nauru housing area was considered one of the best accommodations on the capital atoll, though in recent years it has fallen into disrepair and neglect. The Eastern Gateway Hotel, a three-story structure located on the only beach in downtown Majuro, was under construction from the late 1970s until the 1990s. It was never completed and when Nauru went bankrupt as phosphate ran out and bad investments piled up, the property was neglected.
In recent years, the unfinished hotel was rented out piecemeal by Nauru for apartments, wholesale stores, a bakery, taxi and auto repair shops, and clothing shops.
A key concern for landowners of the former Eastern Gateway Hotel area is getting the site cleaned up. The condition of the property was called “heartbreaking” by Yolanda Lodge, who represents landowners on one of the two land parcels that cover the hotel area.
Lodge said in addition to the lease payments due of $600,000, Nauru is responsible for the condition of the property. “I can only speak for our weto (land parcel), but we want to clean up our part,” Lodge said. “We want Nauru to take up responsibility to bring the place back to its original condition,” she said.
“It’s like a junkyard,” Lodge said, adding that it is prime real estate that could be put to better use than its current situation.
President Zedkaia, whose mother is the ranking paramount chief for Majuro Atoll, is being represented in the High Court civil action by Micronesian Legal Services attorney Robert Catz.
Zedkaia said that since 2008, Nauru has failed to pay the $20,257.80 annual rent due for the property each year on May 1. He said it also owes an additional $600,000 for breaking the lease.
In the court filings, Zedkaia said it is not his intension to remove the occupants at the property. Instead, the landowners want to get possession of the property and damages from Nauru through the court action.
The court filings indicate that the landowners told Nauru officials to vacate the property last month but they refused.
