Yokohama IR withdrawal won’t affect Osaka’s plans
Hirofumi Yoshimura, Osaka’s governor, has said Osaka’s IR plans won’t be impacted by Yokohama’s withdrawal from the contest.
Japan.- While Yokohama’s new mayor has scrapped the city’s IR plans, Hirofumi Yoshimura has insisted that Osaka’s plans remain very much afloat.
The Osaka governor said: “Regardless of the trend in Yokohama, I would like to proceed by achieving the world’s highest level of IR. I don’t think the intention of Mayor Yamanaka will affect Osaka.”
In July, MGM Resorts International and ORIX (MGM-Orix), the only bidder, officially submitted their IR proposal to the Osaka Prefecture.
According to the request-for-proposal (RFP) received by the Osaka Prefecture, around 20 firms from the surrounding Kansai region have agreed to take an equity stake in the consortium that will develop the planned resort.
MGM-Orix has proposed to invest JPY1tn (US$9.1bn). Authorities are expected to approve the company as a private partner for Osaka’s IR bid in September and to submit Osaka’s IR development plan to the national government in April 2022. The resort would not launch until at least 2028, and possibly not until 2030.
