Pansy Ho, Managing Director of MGM China Holdings, said today she was “very hopeful” that the company could have land gazetted for a Cotai project “within the year”.
She added that all operators with pending applications would probably hear from the Macau government at the same time.
The comments came during a press conference for the initial public offering that MGM China is planning on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange later this month.
The ‘all at once’ comment re government decisions on pending Cotai land applications was a reiteration what Dr Ambrose So, Chief Executive of SJM Holdings, the casino operating company chaired until recently by Dr Stanley Ho, said to the media late last year.
“It’s [MGM China’s Cotai land application] right now in a very advanced stage and very promising,” Ms Ho told reporters in Hong Kong.
“We have received news that in fact most of the relevant government bodies that have to look at the planning from a macro perspective have basically received our plans. I think it would be appropriate to say that we have been assured by the government that as and when all the relevant [government] units have passed their comments and have also reverted back to us – we will go into a process of answering back each other over a period of time until we get to a point where we have a clear picture – but in terms of the timing of things this whole process has already kick started. I would presume that the respective enterprises that have put in their applications would have probably all learn about the possibility of getting [land] gazetted at the same time.
“We have been very hopeful that this could happen within the year.”
