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Joseph Lo

Casino magnate Stanley Ho Hung-sun says he will take Macau's US$1.4 billion Nam Van Lakes project public in Hong Kong by 1999.

 The ambitious 55-hectare reclamation project in central Macau was begun in 1992 and is expected to add 20 per cent to the city's land mass and create more than 16 million square feet of new building space.

 The site will eventually accommodate 46 buildings, 31 of which are to be developed by Nam Van Development Co and the rest by the Macau Government.

 Nam Van's portion will include 12 million sq ft of hotel, office and residential accommodation, plus shopping arcades and car parks.

 Mr Ho said that Zones A and B of the project would be completed by the middle of next year, Zones C and D in 1999, and Zone E would follow.

 He said Nam Van was a joint venture between Macau entertainment company Sociedade de Turismo e Diversoes de Macau (STDM), several private Macanese companies and some mainland interests.

 STDM - which holds the exclusive franchise to run gambling in Macau - owns about half of the project.

 There is concern completion of the project will further undermine Macau's weak property market, where prices are only 10-15 per cent of Hong Kong residential property values and many projects are empty.

 Nam Van Lakes is expected to shift Macau's central business district from the Praia Grande area. Zone C will house Macau's new legislature building.

 Several small residential lots for low-density development in Zone A recently were sold internally for an undisclosed amount.

 Meanwhile, Mr Ho said he expected interest rates would continue to move higher and property prices in Hong Kong would fall.

 'I think there will be a further 10 per cent or more drop in property values to the end of this year, and another 10 per cent drop to the end of next year,' he said.

 'There's nothing wrong with Hong Kong's economy . . . but I don't know when the interest rate crisis will end,' he said. Hong Kong's woes were part of a larger Asia-wide confidence problem.

 Casino revenues for STDM had increased 10 per cent last month, Mr Ho said.

 Far East Jetfoils had recorded a 10 per cent increase in revenues in October over the previous month and, so far, a 15 per cent increase in November over October.



Ho to float reclamation project