DPW halts Imperial Pacific International hotel and casino project in Garapan

The Department of Public Works ordered IPI to draw up work “immediately” as it was in violation of the Building Safety Code

The Department of Public Works of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands has ordered Imperial Pacific International to halt works on the hotel and casino project in Garapan as it was in violation of the Building Safety Code.

The DWP has suspended all construction works from levels 3-14 and ordered shop drawings and revised plans to be submitted and approved by the building safety officer. DPW said failure to comply ‘may result in fees, civil penalties or fines.’

Rep. Tina Sablan (seen left) revealed that the Commonwealth Casino Commission had been chasing permit drawings for at least a year. Sablan stated that “It appears that IPI has lacked complete, accurate and certified drawings for much longer than that,

“If IPI doesn’t have permit drawings, how are they building to code? What are they building to? How are they getting inspections? And how long has DPW allowed this to happen?”

This suspension order will remain in effect until the Building Safety Division issues an order rescinding it.
IPI said that they had ‘submitted hundreds of drawings since (the) inception of construction and this is an issue where a few requested documents weren’t submitted by our third-party engineers. IPI’s construction team is actively working with engineers of record and inspectors. The EORs are going to prepare and submit (the) documents to DPW for review soon.’

Imperial Pacific International is still facing a number of other problems including failure to pay its casino license and a lawsuit over unpaid bill stop contractors who worked on imperial palace.

Back in August SiGMA News reported that the Commonwealth Casino Commission of Spain had issued its final warning to Imperial Pacific International to push for a timely payment of its annual license.

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