Manila casino still due to begin biz in 2023: Suntrust

Aug 17, 2021 Newsdesk Latest News, Philippines, Top of the deck  

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The “main hotel casino” at the Westside City Project (pictured in an artist’s rendering), located in Manila’s Entertainment City zone, is “still expected to commence operations in 2023”, stated Philippines-listed Suntrust Home Developers Inc in its quarterly report filed on Monday.

The company handles the development of the Westside City scheme, and is 51-percent indirectly owned by Hong Kong-listed Suncity Group Holdings Ltd.

In the quarterly report, Suntrust said its business operations have been “affected minimally” amid the Covid-19 pandemic within the Philippines. This was because the company’s hotel and casino were still in the “preliminary construction phase”.

“The construction works of the pile cap and the basement of the main hotel casino were in progress. The main hotel casino is still expected to commence operations in 2023,” stated Suntrust.

The company reported a net loss amounting to PHP659.3 million (US$13 million) for the first half of this year, widened from the net loss of PHP36.97 million a year ago.

The total “construction and development” cost for the casino hotel of the Westside City scheme would be approximately US$1 billion, said Suncity Group Holdings in a February filing lodged with the Hong Kong bourse. That firm also mentioned at the time, that the project was scheduled to “commence operation” in 2023.

“The group does not anticipate having any cash flow or liquidity problems,” said Suntrust in its latest quarterly report.

It also stated: “The group has material commitments for capital expenditures amounting to PHP25.83 billion as of June 30, 2021 in relation to the construction of the main hotel casino.”

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