SJM Executive Director Angela Leong On Kei said that Saturday’s suspected arson attack at the Grand Lisboa Palace construction site in Cotai was set to delay the opening of the integrated resort.
According with the Macau Post daily Asked if the two suspected arson attacks in March and on Saturday would have any impact on the opening of Grand Lisboa Palace, Leong said there would be delays of some sort.
“Whether it’s a storm disaster (typhoon damage) or fire, anything will have an impact” Leong said.
“We still don´t know what actually happened inside so we can´t say for sure, but there will definitely be some sort of delay”, she said.
SJM CEO Ambrose So Shu Fai said in August that he expected Grand Lisboa Palace to open in the second half of next year.
Leong said that she is yet to receive a report from the engineers to determine how much damage Saturday’s blaze has caused on the construction site, adding that she had yet to receive a report about the fire in March.
“I just hope that all these calamities will stop quickly and be over and done with,” Leong said.
She said it was possible that SJM would open the core elements at Grand Lisboa Palace first – similar to Jai Alai where the shopping mall and casino on the ground floor are open to the public but the hotel is still pending government approval. “But this (partial opening) is not our wish, we want to open everything together,” Leong said, pointing out that an SJM board meeting would be held soon about the issue, and any decisions would be announced in due course.
“As far as I know from the police investigation into, (Saturday’s arson attack) the fire was on the lower floors, the first five floors,” Leong said. Meanwhile, government-owned broadcaster TDM reported Monday that the Judiciary Police (PJ) no longer classified the fire in March as suspected arson but as a fire caused by a short-circuit.
