GGRAsia – Wakayama to announce new RFP dates for IR scheme

Wakayama to announce new RFP dates for IR scheme

Oct 12, 2020 Newsdesk Japan, Latest News, Top of the deck

Authorities in Japan’s Wakayama prefecture (pictured) said on Friday they would soon announce a fresh timetable revision regarding the local processes required for that community’s tilt at getting a casino resort.

Wakayama’s local timetable on a deadline for so-called request-for-proposal (RFP) materials had shifted before – from the end of August, to October 19. The flagging of yet another local timetable change comes soon after Japan’s national government said on Friday it was delaying the application period for local governments to make their respective applications to the centre.

The national authorities have now shifted the window for local-government proposals for integrated resorts (IR) – as casino complexes are known in that country – to an October 2021 start, and an April 28, 2022 deadline, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism said on Friday. Previously applications were to have opened at the start of next year. The fresh national-level delay – amounting to at least nine months in the process to introduce casino resorts in Japan – was attributed by Japanese government, to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic in the country.

The Japanese government also published on Friday a revised draft of its so-called IR basic policy. A previous draft had been presented in public last year. Key changes in the updated basic policy draft – a document subject to a period of public consultation until November 7 – include the protocols for meetings between the Japanese government and IR operators, as well as enhanced measures against infectious diseases.

According to information collated by GGRAsia’s Japan correspondent, on Friday, Wakayama prefecture’s governor Yoshinobu Nisaka expressed dissatisfaction at the national government’s new schedule for IR proposals. This was on the basis Wakayama was already advanced in its preparatory efforts.

In other developments, Nagasaki prefecture told GGRAsia that governor Hodo Nakamura and his administration would “move forward” with its RFP process; and in selecting its private-sector partner for a tilt at hosting a casino resort scheme.

Up to three resorts will be permitted across the country, in a first phase of market liberalisation.