Casino Commission doubts IPI’s workforce explanations

Members of the Commonwealth Casino Commission grilled Imperial Pacific International Vice President for Construction Eric Poon last week, clearly doubting that the firm was being forthright about its problems maintaining its construction workforce.

Commissioner Alvaro Santos stated, “You let the Taiwanese construction workers go because according to a news report you were paying them $22 an hour, and you replaced them with Mongolian workers who are paid $11 per hour. To me, that makes sense. So just tell us the truth that it’s about saving money. We can understand that.”

Poon, however, refused to explain the details, only stating that the Taiwanese had been let go for reasons related to their “performance.”

Poon said the IPI construction site currently has a total of 481 workers, made up of 151 Taiwanese, 150 Mongolians, 131 locals, 45 Australians, and 4 Thais.

In November, Poon told the local media that he expects Phase 1 of the resort hotel construction to be completed by the end of December.

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