Casino group Melco Resorts & Entertainment Ltd will take on responsibility for some new tourism and leisure elements at two waterfront heritage sites on Macau peninsula: Pier 23 and Pier 25 within the Inner Harbour district, and which are currently undergoing a revamp. The group will additionally help out at the Mount Fortress, also on the peninsula.
The overall work is part of Macau government-led “revitalisation” initiatives for the city’s historical neighbourhoods.
Melco Resorts’ involvement was mentioned in a presentation (pictured) co-hosted on Thursday by the Macau government and executives from Melco Resorts.
The art-deco style piers were warehouses before falling into disuse. Pier 23 built in 1948, and Pier 25 constructed in 1950 – respectively cover 573 square metres (6,168 sq. feet) and 400 sq. ms. They are being managed and revamped by Macau’s Cultural Affairs Bureau, said its director, Leong Wai Man, during the Thursday briefing.
The Macau government has budgeted circa “MOP12 million” (US$1.48 million) for the work, due to be finished by “the third quarter of next year”, said Ms Leong in response to media questions. “We will make sure the structures [of the piers] are safe, and we are retaining the facades of them,” said the cultural affairs bureau head.
Melco Resorts’ input is likely to take “nine months”, said the company’s chairman and chief executive, Lawrence Ho Yau Lung during the briefing.
The firm would help provide a “tourist information centre”, a bookshop and cafeterias, according to a company presentation. Melco Resorts also plans fairs and souvenir shops in the area around the two piers.
At the Mount Fortress, a legacy of the Portuguese era, near the even more famous Ruins of St Paul’s, Melco Resorts will organise “leisure events”.
The Macau government is working to improve access to the Mount Fortress area and its existing facilities, said Macau’s Secretary for Social Affairs and Culture, Ao Ieong U, who also attended Thursday’s briefing.
The Cultural Affairs Bureau is working with Melco Resorts to organise entertainment performance and light shows at the Mount Fortress during the upcoming Mid-Autumn Festival (September 29), according to the update.
The Macau government had already asked each of the city’s six casino concessionaires to promote “community tourism” in Macau’s older neighbourhoods – many of which traditionally have received few tourists – as part of the gaming firms’ non-gaming commitments for their 10-year concessions that began in January.
MGM China Holdings Ltd is helping in Macau’s Barra district, according to a briefing earlier this month. Wynn Macau Ltd is to support the government’s pedestrianisation of Rua da Felicidade, in the old town.
SJM Holdings Ltd is to introduce new tourism elements to part of downtown Macau near the thoroughfare known as San Ma Lou, according to the firm’s chairman, Daisy Ho Chiu Fung, in a December public briefing on its reinvestment commitments.
