Concerns regarding how the private partner could raise funds to develop an integrated resort in Nagasaki arose during the last Prefectural Council meeting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Japan.- At the latest Nagasaki Prefectural Council<\/strong> meeting,\u00a0questions were raised over whether the city’s chosen private sector partners would be able to raise funds\u00a0and form an effective consortium to develop an integrated resort. A Nagasaki councillor has questioned whether Casinos Austria International’s estimated cost of capital would be sufficient.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n In response, the county stated that it would soon submit a draft of its regional development plan to the relevant committee of the parliament, but there was no information on the construction of the consortium and fundraising.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In August, the Nagasaki Prefectural Government selected\u00a0Casinos Austria International<\/a>\u00a0as its priority choice as a partner for its IR bid and the parties signed a master agreement under the name “Kyushu-Nagasaki IR”.<\/strong> The planned total investment for the IR development is JPY350bn (US$3.2bn) for eight hotels,<\/strong>\u00a0conference and exhibition facilities and a variety of dining and retail options.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Nagasaki Prefectural Government has previously said it expects\u00a0the IR to open in 2027\u00a0<\/strong>and to generate\u00a0annual gross gaming revenue<\/a>\u00a0(GGR) of JPY150bn (US$1.37bn). Lobby groups have called for a local referendum on the IR plans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Meanwhile, in Wakayama the Prefectural Government<\/a>\u00a0postponed the first of 14 public hearings on its IR plans as information on funding and the structure of the winning consortium is still pending. Campaigners in Wakayama<\/a>\u00a0have collected more than 8,000 signatures to a petition for a referendum on the city’s integrated resort plans. That\u2019s more than\u00a02 per cent of voters<\/strong>\u00a0required to submit a referendum motion request.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The anti-IR group began\u00a0collecting signatures<\/a>\u00a0and hopes to force a referendum that would allow voters to choose whether or not to support proposals for an integrated resort in Wakayama. It hopes\u00a0to reach 20,000 signatures\u00a0<\/strong>by December 5.<\/p>\n\n\n\nWakayama: anti-IR group to demand referendum<\/h2>\n\n\n\n