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FIRST
Cagayan Leisure and Resort Corp. (FCLRC) would build a
P4-billion airport in Cagayan province, which, when
completed, would accommodate more casino-gaming players
from the region.
The
venture would be done in partnership with the Cagayan
Economic Zone Authority (Ceza), a government agency
mandated to manage the development of the Cagayan
Freeport.
In an
interview, Alfredo Benitez, president of listed Leisure
and Resorts World Corp. (LWRC), said FCLRC would provide
both equity and the property to support the project
while Ceza would also allot cash. LWRC owns 70 percent
of FCLRC.
“We own
79 hectares of lot in Cagayan and around 40 hectares of
that would be dedicated to the airport,” he said.
The new
airport would be located in
Santa Ana,
where the existing airport is also situated. It would
have a 1.7-kilometer runway and be designed to
accommodate Boeing 747 aircraft.
Benitez
said construction would begin this year and completion
is expected in 2010.
Right
now, the existing airport accommodates two flights from
Macau weekly and very soon from China. Passengers from
these flights are either players or proxy players in the
two casinos—Sin City and Eastern Hawaii—currently in
operation within the free port.
“The new
airport means more people would be coming in and that
surely would give a boost to our tourism industry,”
Benitez said.
FCLRC
was given the license by Ceza to regulate and supervise
the operations of registered online-gaming enterprise
within the free port. The company can issue two types of
licenses—interactive gaming licenses, which cover all
types of online gaming including casinos, lotteries,
bingo and sportsbooks, and restrictive licenses, which
limit the offerings to sports betting only.
As the
master licensor, FCLRC is entitled to half of the gaming
levy imposed by Ceza on the gaming operators within
the free port.
From
January to March this year, the company generated P50.4
million in gross revenues, a 42.9-percent jump from last
year’s P35.3 million.
The
growth was mainly due to the increase in number of
operational locators to 30. As of end-March, there were
40 licensed locators, 30 of which are operational, 10
nonoperational and four applicants.
Its net
income for the period also grew to P21.4 million, from
P15 million in the same period last year. |
