SMS S Iswaran's reply to Parliament Questions on the Integrated Resorts

Question No 395 of Notice Paper No. 73 of 2010

Name and Constituency of Member of Parliament
Mr. Calvin Cheng, NMP

Question
To ask the Minister for Trade and Industry whether the Integrated Resorts (IRs) are merely keeping to the letter rather than the spirit of the requirement for the IRs to have a significant area of non-gaming facilities, when presently the casinos are fully functional but a significant proportion of their hotel rooms and entertainment facilities are not fully ready.

Answer
International tourism projects such as the City Centre Resort in Vegas, Wynn Resort in Macau and Universal Studios Florida were all opened in phases. Locally, ION Orchard and Singapore Airport Terminal Three are two examples of large local developments that also had phased openings. The phased opening of Singapore’s Integrated Resorts (IRs) is thus quite typical for projects of this scale and complexity.

From an operational perspective, phased openings are necessary to allow the IRs to work through operational issues and to allow employees to familiarize themselves with their new roles and gain confidence for the ramp-up in activities. Although the IRs were opened in phases, the casino license was granted only when the Government authorities had established that at least 50% of the Gross Floor Area (GFA) was completed and at least 50% of the Development Investment (DI) had been expended. This was to ensure that the casino would be allowed to operate only when a significant amount of non-gaming facilities were opened and the integrity of the Integrated Resort concept upheld. When the IRs are fully opened, gaming areas would take up less than 3% of the GFA for Marina Bay Sands (MBS) and less than 5% of the GFA for Resorts World Singapore (RWS).

Both IRs have, in fact, opened significant non-gaming facilities. RWS soft opened with Universal Studios Singapore, its theatre, part of the Festive Walk, and four hotels. The next phase of its development will include the addition of new attractions in USS, the premier of a locally created circus theatre show, a Marine Life and Water Theme Park, and a Maritime experiential Museum. MBS’ preview opening included a significant amount of non-gaming areas such as 963 hotel rooms, retail outlets, restaurants, bars and MICE facilities. MBS expects to open its remaining facilities such as the Sky park, Theatres and Museum by end 2010.