IPI hires night workers to hurry Saipan casino project

Imperial Pacific International is trying to get its resort in Saipan by its August deadline and has hired more workers to do so.

Saipan.- Imperial Pacific International (IPI) claims it will most likely miss its August deadline to complete the Imperial Pacific Resort in Saipan and has asked the Commonwealth Casino for an extension until December. However, the company announced that, even if it gets the extension, it will need night workers in order to get the job done.

“Pacific Rim and IPI have been talking about second (work) shift which will start after 7 pm until midnight. Right now, we already notified the people concerned about the possibility of night shift work,” VP of construction Erik Poon said and added: “The exact date we still have to iron out with Pacific Rim because right now, we have to put the safety features needed especially at night before we put a date for the second (work) shift.”

In addition, Mr Poon said that IPI has “significantly increased manpower” and detailed: “Currently, we have 68 management staff and 1,402 workers in construction—44 from Sinopan, 677 from Pacific Rim, and 700 IPI H2-B workers… we are still hiring… our requirement is 1,500 workers and right now we have 700 so we still have room to grow for sure.”

In its annual report, IPI said that as of December 31, 2017, it had invested “approximately US$650 million in the design, consulting, engineering, construction materials and labour costs” for the Saipan resort. Said investment, executives hope, will start to give further profit once the hotel gets opened.