Taiwan island seeks investors to create casino resort

Jan 4, 2009, 22:18 GMT

Taipei - A Taiwan island is seeking investment to build itself into an international casino resort, a newspaper said on Monday.

The Penghu county government is seeking 30 billion Taiwan dollars (909 million US dollars) in private investment to help develop massive casino resorts, the Taipei Times quoted the cabinet's Public Construction Commission (PCC) as saying.

The plan for tourist casinos on Penghu - an archipelago with 90 islets about 44 kilometres off Taiwan's west coast - is part of the cabinet's iTaiwan 12 Development Projects, which in Chinese reads as Love Taiwan 12 Development Projects.

The Penghu county government has crafted an investment project to build tourist casinos at two locations in the offshore county.

The Penghu casino and resort project would be the largest programme among the iTaiwan 12 Projects, PCC officials said.

The projects, initiated by President Ma Ying-jeou, will require a total investment of 3.99 trillion Taiwan dollars (122 billion US dollars) over a span of eight years, with the government funding 2.65 trillion Taiwan dollars (8 billion US dollars) and the private sector footing the rest.

The Penghu county government also plans to build a 120-hectare international vacation village.

The vacation village would contain a 2,000-room hotel, a duty- free shopping mall, an international convention center, as well as golf courses and casinos.

Planning for the resort is scheduled to begin in 2009, private investors are to be finalized by February 2010 and construction should kick off in 2011, the paper said.

However, the casino project is pending the revision of the Offshore Islands Development Act in parliament and the outcome of a referendum by Penghu residents. It faces the disapproval of some Penghu residents who frown on gambling, it added.