Japanese MP Taku Ikeshita has asked Prime Minister Fumio Kishida to approve an integrated resort (IR) in Osaka before next March, or risk a lengthy delay on the project.
“The Osaka IR schedule could be delayed by one to three years if the government approval is delayed,” said Ikeshita, who represents Osaka’s 10th district at the national level.
“Please show us when the approval will be given and how the prime minister recognizes the importance of IR,” said Ikeshita, in remarks reported last week by GGRAsia.
Osaka has partnered with U.S.-based MGM Resorts International and its local partner, Orix Corp., on the proposed JPY1.08 trillion (US$7.2 billion) project. MGM previously expressed hope that the government would render a decision by fall.
In the October 18 parliamentary session, the prime minister made no commitment, but said the national government is “going ahead with the IR procedures properly.” He added, “IR is a very important policy to make Japan a tourism-oriented country.”
Nagasaki Prefecture has also applied for an IR license. According to GGRAsia, last week a hearing began in a lawsuit that would keep Nagasaki Governor Kengo Oishi from tapping public funds to support an IR project there.
A group that calls itself “Stop the Casino Nagasaki Prefectural Network” filed suit on behalf of eight complainants. They say the prefectural government misused public funds when it spent JPY110 million (US$737,000) to retain a law firm and hire other advisors to work on the IR project.
Representatives for the prefectural government defended the expense as “proper,” because “certain works related to the assessment” of the IR proposal had to be completed.
Nagasaki’s private-sector partner is Casinos Austria International Japan Inc., which plans a JPY438.3 billion (US$2.9 billion) resort adjacent to the Dutch-themed Huis Ten Bosch park in Sasebo City.
At the hearing last Tuesday, the complainants said “there is no chance” that Nagasaki’s IR project will be approved; therefore, there is “no need” for the prefecture to invest more money in the proposal.
