Tag Archives: Marina Bay

Marina Bay Sands, Singapore’s waterfront casino on the edge of the city state’s business district, is likely to be open in April, Channel News Asia reported on Saturday, citing unnamed sources.

The casino, operated by Las Vegas Sands , had been originally scheduled to open its doors by the end of 2009, but the date was put back to the first quarter of 2010.

‘Sources have told MediaCorp the earliest the resort will start operations is in April. But some industry observers said June is a more realistic date,’ Channel News Asia, the news TV channel operated by MediaCorp, reported on its website.

The source said the resort was determined to open at least the casino and about a third of the rooms first as they were considered ‘high-revenue areas’.

Marina Bay Sands was not immediately available to comment.

The Singapore casino will cost US$5.25 to US$5.5 billion against an original forecast of US$3.2 billion when the project was conceived and will go into operation at a time when tourism is shrinking due to global economic recession.

A second casino is being built by Genting Singapore, a unit of Malaysia’s Genting Bhd, on the resort island on Sentosa. It is scheduled to open in the first quarter of 2010.

Singapore is hoping the casinos will boost the number of visitors and benefit its retail sectors as well as flag carrier Singapore Airlines, the world’s largest airline by market value.

Source : Business Times – 19 Dec 2009

The heat is on for the Marina Bay Sands integrated resort to open with a bang next year.

But with delays and escalating construction costs earlier this year, people have been left guessing when the doors will open.

Sources have told MediaCorp the earliest the resort will start operations is in April. But some industry observers said June is a more realistic date.

They said the resort is determined to open at least the casino and about a third of the rooms first – because these are considered the “high-revenue areas”.

The 2,600-room resort was slated to open at the end of this year. But in July, it announced a delay to the first quarter of 2010, citing shortage of raw materials and manpower.

Some new staff have also been given letters to start work at a later date.

Source : Channel NewsAsia – 18 Dec 2009