{"id":26720,"date":"2022-01-28T09:00:24","date_gmt":"2022-01-28T12:00:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/?p=26720"},"modified":"2026-04-23T11:49:27","modified_gmt":"2026-04-23T14:49:27","slug":"wakayama-dismisses-demands-for-ir-referendum","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wakayama-dismisses-demands-for-ir-referendum","title":{"rendered":"Wakayama dismisses demands for IR referendum"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Wakayama’s city council voted against the possibility of allowing a referendum on the development of an integrated resort in the city.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Japan.- Authorities in Wakayama have finally\u00a0rejected a call for a public referendum\u00a0<\/strong>on whether or not to allow proposals for an integrated resort in the city. Last November, an anti-IR group<\/a> began\u00a0collected more than 8,000 signatures on a petition calling for a referendum on the city’s integrated resort plans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to GGRAsia\u2019s Japan correspondent, a special session of the Council took place from January 24 to 27 to debate and vote on the referendum. Finally, 28 officials voted against and\u00a0only 9 of the 38-member council supported the plebiscite<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wakayama’s mayor, Masahiro Kohana<\/strong>, who is in favour of developing an integrated resort in the city, opposed the idea of \u200b\u200ba referendum. He said there was already a formal process that allows for a vote on Wakayama Prefecture’s IR zone development plan. The mayor also said the referendum would be costly for the city.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Last December, Yoshinobu Nisaka, a member of the Japanese Liberal Democratic Party, called for Wakayama\u2019s public hearing sessions<\/strong> on its integrated resort plans to be postponed until residents can be provided with more information about the proposed development.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nisaka said that to be able to submit a draft development plan, the \u201cmost important thing\u201d that needs to be clarified is who will develop the project and how it will raise funds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Canada\u2019s Clairvest Neem Ventures Co Ltd<\/strong>, Wakayama\u2019s IR partner, has an agreement with Caesars Entertainment<\/a>. However, the US company said it would be a \u201cno capital commitment\u201d partner.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The planned initial investment in the IR development is JPY470bn (US$4.3bn). The Wakayama Prefectural Government hopes to open the integrated resort by 2026<\/strong>. It must submit its area development plan to the national government for approval by April 28, 2022.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Wakayama’s city council voted against the possibility of allowing a referendum on the development of an integrated resort in the city.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":176,"featured_media":26757,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"is_press_release":false,"is_interview":false,"is_opinion":false,"focusai_summary":"Wakayama's city council has rejected a public referendum on the proposed Integrated Resort (IR) development, with Mayor Masahiro Kohana opposing the plebiscite due to existing formal processes and cost concerns. This decision removes a potential procedural impediment for the JPY470bn project, involving Clairvest Neem Ventures and Caesars Entertainment, as the Wakayama Prefectural Government aims for a 2026 opening and an April 28, 2022, national government submission deadline.","focusai_entities":"Wakayama city council, Masahiro Kohana, Yoshinobu Nisaka, Japanese Liberal Democratic Party, Clairvest Neem Ventures Co Ltd, Caesars Entertainment, Wakayama Prefectural Government, GGRAsia","focusai_location":"Wakayama, Japan, Canada, US","focusai_target_profile":"ceo_executive (0.9), regulator (0.8), compliance_legal (0.7), operator_casino (0.9), investor_analyst (0.9), supplier_vendor (0.8), journalist_researcher (0.9)","focusai_suggestions":[{"label":"Capital Commitment Implications","query":"What are the strategic implications for Clairvest Neem Ventures and the Wakayama Prefectural Government given Caesars Entertainment's 'no capital commitment' partnership in the JPY470bn IR development?"},{"label":"Regulatory Approval Timeline","query":"How might the national government's approval process for Wakayama's IR area development plan, due by April 28, 2022, be influenced by the local council's rejection of a referendum and the outstanding questions regarding funding clarity?"}],"footnotes":""},"categories":[157,16338,158],"tags":[23632],"class_list":["post-26720","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business-news","category-east-asia-news","category-slider-home","tag-integrated-resorts"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26720","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/176"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26720"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26720\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26729,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26720\/revisions\/26729"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26757"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26720"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26720"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26720"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}