GGRAsia – Osaka flags 2-mth delay on MGM Osaka piling to aid Expo

Osaka flags 2-mth delay on MGM Osaka piling to aid Expo

Sep 10, 2024 Newsdesk Japan, Latest News, Top of the deck

The governor of Osaka prefecture said on Tuesday that piling work on the MGM Osaka integrated resort (IR) with casino will be put back by two months, so that the peak of noise disruption will be shifted to after a major international expo next door has concluded.

Yoshimura Hirofumi (pictured in a file photo) made the pledge during talks with Japan’s prime minister Fumio Kishida, and Hanako Jimi, the minister responsible for oversight of Expo 2025 Osaka.

The Expo will be held on Yumeshima – an artificial island in Osaka Bay that also hosts the MGM Osaka site – for 184 days from April 13 to October 13 next year. That coincides with overall work on MGM Osaka.

Mr Yoshimura also said on Tuesday – as reported by Jiji Press and other outlets – that the total number of construction vehicles at the MGM Osaka site would be reduced by approximately 14 percent.

The prefecture’s governor was also cited as saying a new liaison and coordination committee – including people from the IR project side – would be established. He added that the Osaka authorities “will proceed in a way that does not adversely affect the Expo”.

Dimitri Kerkentzes, secretary-general of the Bureau International des Expositions (BIE) – an international body involved with the Expo – had previously said he had only become aware in June that MGM Osaka building work would be overlapping with the Expo.

In late August, Mr Kerkentzes was quoted by Japanese media as saying he was hopeful that the Expo and MGM Osaka’s construction project could “co-exist”.

Nonetheless he was cited on Tuesday as saying regarding the Osaka governor’s pledge: “If the liaison and coordination committee does not function effectively, not only will it jeopardise the success of the Expo, but we will also face strong backlash from participating countries and visitors.”

United States-based casino operator MGM Resorts International is a key backer of the JPY1.27-trillion (US$8.86-billion currently) MGM Osaka, alongside Japan’s Orix Corp and a number of smaller stakeholders from Japan.

In late July, on the MGM Resorts’ second-quarter earnings call, Bill Hornbuckle, the group’s chief executive and president stated: “I just recently returned from Japan and that is moving along nicely. We are in the ground as we speak and we hope to start piling by May or June of next year, with a target date still of middle of 2030 for opening.”

It was also confirmed on Tuesday that Osaka IR KK – the entity developing MGM Osaka – had agreed on September 6 to waive its right to terminate its implementation agreement with the Osaka authorities.

The confirmation document stated that the Osaka city and prefectural governments and Osaka IR KK would work together to achieve the schedule written in the IR District Development Plan.

According to GGRAsia’s Japan correspondent, the timetable as set out in that document was: from summer 2024, IR preparatory work; around April 2025, start of IR construction work; around spring 2030, construction completed; and around autumn 2030, MGM Osaka IR to open.