Ponte 16 plan risks more delay as Macau rejigs priorities

Jun 16, 2020 Newsdesk Latest News, Macau, Top of the deck  

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A planned extension of Macau waterfront casino-resort complex Ponte 16 faces further delays as part of the fallout from the Covid-19 pandemic, says Hoffman Ma Ho Man, deputy chairman and executive director of Success Universe Group Ltd, an investor in the venue.

In comments to GGRAsia, Mr Ma noted that his firm had already submitted a revised land use plan to the Macau government for the Ponte 16 extension project, which is known within his company as the “third phase”. But the current pandemic crisis could lengthen the time it takes for the local government to review the plan, Mr Ma said.

The Macau government currently has “other priorities as it needs first to tackle the Covid-19 impact,” Mr Ma remarked to us.

He declined to detail the content of the revised plan for Ponte 16’s new phase, but he noted that his firm would aim to have “additional gaming floors” as part of the development.

“We hope that this [extension] scheme can pick up steam again, when the travel trade and visitor flow in Macau recover from the Covid-19 impact,” Mr Ma remarked.

The Ponte 16 casino complex at the Inner Harbour on Macau peninsula hosted 109 gaming tables as of December 31, according to Hong Kong-listed Success Universe’s 2019 annual report filed in April. The casino inside the complex is a satellite venue that is run under the gaming rights of Macau gaming concessionaire SJM Holdings Ltd. The complex includes the five-star Sofitel Macau hotel, under the Sofitel brand of France’s Accor SA.

Ponte 16 is one of two local waterside resorts with gaming facilities – the other being Macau Fisherman’s Wharf near the Outer Harbour on Macau peninsula – to have fitted floodgates at private-sector expense and made other changes to try to guard against the risk of business disruption due to severe-weather flooding, especially typhoon-related inundation.

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