City of Dreams Mediterranean, an integrated resort (IR) project on the island of Cyprus operated by Melco Resorts and Entertainment Ltd., is experiencing construction delays due to labor shortages, but still expects to open by the end of the year, according to the company.
During a recent earnings call, Melco CEO Lawrence Ho Yau Lung said that the resort’s contractor has “struggled with meeting its labor resourcing plans and maintaining progress, which has led to delays. “
“We are actively dealing with these difficulties as we remain fully committed towards delivering Europe’s first integrated resort in Cyprus,” said Ho.
City of Dreams is being built at Limassol, a city on the southern coast of the island. The integrated resort will be operated by Melco Cyprus, a joint venture between Melco and Cyprus Phassouri Ltd., a local conglomerate.
The venture has secured a 30-year exclusive gaming license for the area, and a temporary casino is already up and running in Limassol under the name C2. This license has also allowed Melco Cyprus to operate casinos in three other Cyprus cities—Nicosia, Paphos and Ayia Napa.
This isn’t the only construction snafu Melco is navigating at the moment–on the call, the company also addressed licensing issues they are facing with their ongoing Studio City Phase 2 expansion project in Macau.
“We are very confident that we are going to meet the timeline, in terms of getting the necessary occupational permit, and for the various government departments to do the inspections and give us the relevant licenses,” said Ho.
No opening date for the upgraded Macau IR has been set at this time.
