Report: Two Cotai Strip land grants could be approved in 2012
A Macau government official said two applications for land grants on the Cotai Strip requested by casino operators could be approved this year.
Jaime Carion, director of the Lands and Public Works Bureau, wouldn’t say which companies would received the land grants, the Macau Daily Times reported in its Monday editions.
Casino operators Wynn Resorts Ltd., MGM Resorts International and SJM, which is controlled by controversial Hong Kong billionaire Stanley Ho, have applied for land concession on Cotai. Carion said the bureau might only be able to complete and approve two of the three applications by the end of 2012.
In September, Wynn announced it had agreed to pay a premium cost to acquire land next to the City of Dreams development and the Macau University of Science and Technology campus. Wynn Resorts Chairman Steve Wynn has said the company would start construction of its project as soon as the land was granted.
The Macau government, however, said the deal with Wynn was not settled.
MGM Resorts has also targeted a Cotai Strip location for a hotel-casino development.
SJM said in December its Cotai land grant was approved in principle, but the operator had not received any detail on the premium payment. SJM has said the larger piece of its plans for Cotai would be nongaming businesses.