Wakayama to close IR promotion office

Wakayama’s prefecture has decided to close its IR office from tomorrow (June 30). It will be absorbed into another department in the planning policy bureau.

Japan.- Two months after the Wakayama Prefectural Assembly rejected plans for a proposed casino resort in the city, authorities have reported the IR office set up to coordinate issues related to the development of an integrated resort will be closed from June 30.

According to the Wakayama prefecture, the IR promotion office will be absorbed into another department at the planning policy bureau.

On April 20, 22 members of the prefectural council voted against the IR plan, versus 18 in favour. The Wakayama prefectural assembly committee had previously expressed concern that planning and fundraising for the project remained unclear. However, the prefecture’s governor Yoshinobu Nisaka has expressed hopes that the project could be resurrected in the future.

Nisaka said the integrated resort could have helped the economy by boosting tourism and said that “economic and employment forces” in the city were currently insufficient.

Only Osaka and Nagasaki have submitted bids to develop IRs to Japan’s central government. The cities submitted IR District Development Plans that were approved by their city councils and prefectural assemblies. 

However, in Osaka, an anti-IR group is pushing for a referendum on its plans to develop an integrated resort. It’s gathered 208,552 signatures – enough to reach the threshold of 2 per cent of local voters necessary for a referendum. It is therefore expected that a draft ordinance will be presented in the prefectural assembly with the government’s opinion on the matter.