Las Vegas Sands say Singapore casino on track

SINGAPORE, Oct 30 - Las Vegas Sands plans to open its Singapore casino by end-2009 as scheduled despite a report that the project will be delayed, a Singapore-based company executive said on Thursday.

"We continue to target the end of 2009 for the opening of Marina Bay Sands," George Tanasijevich, general manager of Marina Bay Sands, said in a statement.

His comments follow a report in the pro-government Straits Times newspaper on Thursday, which said the casino project was several months behind schedule due to construction issues and a shortage of labour.

According to the paper, event organisers said the casino had indicated that it would only accept bookings from April 2010.

Singapore legalised casino gaming in 2005 and licensed two multi-billion-dollar casino-resorts in a bid to attract more tourists and convention visitors.

The Marina Bay Sands is being built on reclaimed land near Singapore's central business district and is scheduled to open in late 2009. The second, Genting International's Resorts World at Sentosa, is slated for completion in 2010.

Resorts World may also see a delay in the opening of some of its facilities although a casino spokeswoman said it was "on track" for a "soft opening" in 2010, the paper said.

The two casinos have been hit by higher construction costs since construction began, causing Genting to revise its costs for Resorts World up 15 percent to S$6 billion last year.