Editor's note
Grand celebrations in slow mode
A first anniversary by tradition requires a big celebration and the Venetian definitely knows how to throw a party: the world premiere of Cirque du Soleil’s Zaia, the opening of the boutique hotel Four Seasons and the launch of DFS Galleria, a 110,000 square feet retail area with all the top brands that you can possibly imagine and more.
What Macau saw in the last week of August, solicitously offered by the Sands’ executives, were the foundations of what the Cotai Strip will be besides just casinos and conventions, with its Metropolis-look-alike design. It’s the materialization of a plan for Macau as a world-class entertainment and high-end retail hub.
Optimism was in abundance among the Sands’ bosses on August 28th and they will need it because there are worrying signs from the outset.
It’s not only the threats of an economic slow-down in China and the news of yet more reductions in visa concessions for mainlanders (even though the Venetian executives say that less is more, because visitors will stay longer, using hotel rooms, shopping and above all gambling more).
What must leave every casino executive really nervous is the government
imposed freeze on any new casinos and their related projects. For Las Vegas Sands, the stakes are particularly high, forcing its Chief Operating Officer William P. Weidner to admit that the several Cotai expansions would inevitably be delayed.
I do not think that Edmund Ho’s ‘stop and think’ attitude is necessarily bad, especially when many locals resent the import of foreign workers and question what the big American operators are doing with all those millions (again Mr. Weidner says that not a single pataca is going out and the money is reinvested in the SAR). A governmental study is expected by the fall, but why does it have to take so long to provide answers?
What really confuses me is this ‘Macau in two constant modes’: the fast forward one, which pursues the vision of a city designed by big players like the Sands, who understandably look for profit and create facilities where they didn’t exist before, to make their investments rentable. The danger here is that these operators, as respectable as their intentions might be, have the interests of their companies first and will only better the city to the extent that they do not lose too much money. And who can blame them for that?
On the other mode, the slow one, we have the government, which, I hope, must also have a vision for Macau, but fails completely to show it, or takes ages to do so. It seems to distrust the fast casino development and its impact, but answers it with silence. But silence won’t stop Macau’s residents from living and having
to tackle its many infrastructure problems on a daily basis. Where are the solutions?
Take for instance the Hong Kong-Macau-Zhuhai Bridge that makes the cover of this issue.
Some experts are pessimistic and only see here an extra and unwanted burden to the already over-used road network. Others say that this will bring Macau a golden opportunity to evolve from its mono-industry economy and diversify activities in the regional context of the Pearl River Delta. Macau’s new Transport Bureau director Wong Wan promises that cars from the outside traveling on the bridge won’t be allowed into city, that the light rail is expected in 2011(!) and that there will be more buses and taxation to discourage car use.
All these are good news, but why does one of the fastest growing economies in the world take years to solve a simple problem like commuting?
The government didn’t accept Sheldon Adelson’s offer to help building the light rail. I wouldn’t either as it is politically very risky. But one has to admit that until the government shows more action, many of the residents will have to rely on the dozens of casino buses to move around the city. They are de facto the alternative transport system of Macau.