Government justifies Galaxy’s land grant

The government justified Galaxy’s land grant by saying that the approval to transfer land parcels’ tenancy to third parties was to accelerate the implementation of the large-scale development project in Cotai.
The land grant aroused other gaming operators’ concern that the SAR government might have given privileges to Galaxy Casino last week.
It was because in the agreement the government allowed Galaxy to transfer the tenancy of each of the four land parcels totalling at some 440,000 square metres to third parties before they are being used.
The Land, Public Works and Transport Bureau (DSSOPT) said in a statement that if a gaming project required massive investment and construction by phases, and the related gaming company during the land grant application process requested to transfer part of the land parcels in the future, the government would approve the application on an individual basis in order to “help push forward the implementation of the large-scale project”.
During the assessment, the DSSOPT said the government would take into account various aspects such as how the land transfer would benefit the construction and what positive impact it might bring to the local employment market and the gaming industry’s development.
The statement also pointed out that Galaxy Casino was not the first company having been approved the land transfer in order to carry out financing.
According to the agreement, “Due to the special nature of the land use, including to build multiple hotels and apartment hotels, the government allowed [Galaxy] to transfer the tenancy of the four land parcels before they are being used, but the contract cannot be amended, each land parcel could only be transferred once, and also all premiums must have already been paid in full”.
The DSSOPT reiterated that the third parties would still be required to implement the same development projects based on the original contract and land transfers must have to be approved by the SAR government.
On the other hand, since 2002 the government had already been working on the land deal with Galaxy, the statement read.
Yet due to the huge scale of the resort project and the multiple modifications in the construction plan carried out by the company as promoted by changes in Macau’s economy, the bureau said the land grant process was significantly prolonged.
In addition, the DSSOPT said that since the land parcels for Galaxy included a piece of land which was already granted to Kerry Properties Limited through an open tender before the handover of Macau, the government had to negotiate with the company so as to void the contract and recall the land.
As such, the government promised Kerry Properties a future land grant which would only occupy an area equals to how much land premium it had paid a decade ago.
Pro-democracy lawmakers Au Kam San, Ng Kuok Cheong and Chan Wai Chi, from the New Macau Association, yesterday wrote to the Legislative Assembly to propose a hearing on the Galaxy land grant in a bid to “clarify some public interest issues”.
The lawmakers requested to summon key individuals responsible for approving the land grant and from Galaxy to the hearing.
They also criticised the “unreasonably low premium” (2.924 billion patacas) charged to Galaxy, and questioned whether there was “transfer of interests” between officials and the gaming operator or fraud involved in the deal.