Macau’s Secretary for Administration and Justice, Cheong Weng Chon, said Saturday that the government will definitely complete its tender process for new gaming concessions this year, with the first round of discussions and consultations with the seven bidding companies to start this week.
The seven tenderers include Macau’s six current concessionaires as well as GMM S.A. – a subsidiary of Genting Malaysia.
Having closed the tender submission window on 14 September, all submissions were opened on 16 September with the government accepting those of the current six and provisionally accepting GMM’s.
Speaking at a press conference on Saturday, Cheong said, “I believe the tenderers have confidence in the future of Macau, otherwise they would not have participated in the bidding process.”
However, Macau Chief Executive Ho Iat Seng admitted that most of the development of land set aside for integrated resort operations was already complete and now new land would be granted to any of the seven bidders, including GMM.
“The government will not grant any more gaming land and concessionaires can only develop on existing facilities. If a new company is awarded a gaming concession, it can then use the gaming facilities that the government has recovered from the old concession [under reversion agreements].
“The Gaming Law already stipulates that the gaming facilities are owned by the government, so it is believed concessionaires will not invest heavily in the future and will develop on their existing facilities.”
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