Boracay Island may be closing for a year for rehabilitation purposes but that has not stopped Genting BHD from checking out the island for a possible resort. The Malaysian company is attempting to gain approval from the Philippines government in order to obtain a license to establish a casino resort right within the center of the island.
Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation or PAGCOR have been fending off a backlash from the media after the announcement that they would be granting Galaxy Entertainment Group a temporary license to build their integrated resort on the island. Genting has in 2014 submitted a proposal to receive a license to manage a resort in Boracay, and PAGCOR has stated that they are busy reviewing the current application as we speak.
The 2014 application from Genting for an integrated casino and resort project has been approved; this was stated by Domingo Aduerte the spokesperson for PAGCOR at the ASEAN Gaming Summit in Manila recently. Genting hopes to be up and running within the next four months, however, that looks unlikely.
Galaxy Entertainment Group’s Luxury Resort
Galaxy Entertainment Group’s and LRWC’s joint project to implement a $500 million casino and resort megaproject has received a vast amount of media attention. The media attention has been brought on by the fact that the construction will continue in spite of the fact that the Boracay island itself will be closed for a year due to rehabilitative concerns.
In February this year, the Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte gave Boracay the ultimatum that the island could be facing a shutdown due to the high levels of pollution in the water. Now, after much scientific analysis, the official recommendation is that the island must be shut down for at least a year. However, there are some who claim that the real reason behind the closure is in order to facilitate for Galaxy Entertainment Group’s brand new resort.
Domingo cleared these allegations stating that there were no grounds for government interference due to the fact that the area where the casino resort would be built is not on the beachfront. And the island closure may only be for a few months and not reach the full-year span.
Furthermore, Domingo stated that the investment into just the construction alone is looking anywhere between $300 to $500 million and the expected duration for construction could be a few years, which was the further explanation for why the government would allow for construction.
