Delays in obtaining government approval and the struggling world economy have sparked a construction slowdown in Macau.
Parcels seven and eight of The Venetian have been placed on hold and the project's construction manager, Hsin Chong Construction Group, has confirmed a fall in demand for staff.
Macau-based executive project director of Hsin Chong, Keith Buckley, said: 'I guess, like everything, construction goes through a sequence. It does not go on forever. The level of construction has to slow down because we can't go on building casinos forever in Macau, there simply is not enough room.'
Hsin Chong employs 950 employees in Macau, from administration staff to project directors. The group has overseen the construction of more than HK$7billion worth of work in Macau, including the Venetian Macao casino and the Four Seasons Hotel. Work is still under way on parcels five and six of The Venetian project and piling work has been carried out on parcels seven and eight. At the peak of construction in Macau, the group was overseeing more than 11,000 staff, the majority engaged through contractors.
Mr Buckley said human resources posed the biggest challenge of working in the enclave. Despite struggling to find qualified staff a year ago, he confirmed that many of the positions that had been advertised in the past few months were on hold. 'The demand has not been as strong because we are waiting on government approval to continue some parts of the project,' Mr Buckley said. 'Despite this, there are other major projects like the light rail that will be coming on line soon.'
Assistant managing director of Hsin Chong, Law Wai-tai, said the company was waiting to see what happened in the coming months before deciding on a course of action. Mr Law said there had been a major slowdown in the government approval process following the corruption scandal that brought down the former secretary for transport and public works Ao Man-long. 'For parcels seven and eight we haven't really started yet, we have some staff there but not too many and, if the project is to be shelved for the time being, it will not be too difficult to absorb staff into other areas or move them back to Hong Kong,' he said. 'I think for the time being we need to wait and see what happens, it is not just a question of looking at what is happening with the US economy, there are political issues involved so it is hard to guess what will happen.'