Casino in CNMI struggles to complete project

11:01 am on 1 December 2017
Imperial Pacific International - CNMI

Imperial Pacific International - CNMI Photo: Mark Rabago

The company building a huge casino resort in Saipan is having difficulty hiring construction workers to meet its completion date next August.

Imperial Pacific International says it's down to only 207 construction workers because of a cap on foreign workers and earlier allowing illegal workers on the project.

The Hong Kong-based company has made efforts to get workers through local contractors and is in talks with three companies to bring in workers eligible to wok in the US.

The casino hotel is being built at a cost of US$507 million and will have 330 rooms.

It's the first phase of Imperial Pacific's US$7 billion integrated resort project on Saipan.