On Thursday, the mayor of Osaka, Japan, said the annual land rent at a game resort in Japan's big city would be 2.52 billion yen (US$18.3 million). According to GGRAsia's Japan correspondent, Ichiro Matsui said the amount was based on reports from four different real estate appraisal companies.

Osaka's mayor was speaking at a news conference about Osaka's integrated resort (IR) plans. Osaka has teamed up with U.S.-based casino operators MGM Resorts International and Japan's Orix as private sector partners for interest in casino resorts.

The project, which will be developed on Yumeshima (file photo), an artificial island in Osaka Bay, was described as an investment of 1.8 trillion yen ($7.9 billion at the current exchange rate).

In comments on Thursday, Mr Matsui said IR promoters would pay 428 yen per square metre of land each month, or a total of about 210.6 million yen per month. That was slightly above 2.52 billion yen a year, he added.

"Several operators have asked the city to lease the land rather than sell it," the official noted before the process of requesting the proposal.

He added: "The city has asked four real estate appraisers to offer charter prices, but all have said they cannot offer separate prices for IR purposes."

"We therefore asked companies to offer prices according to their usual commercial development objectives," Mr. Matsui said. "It was a legitimate and reasonable way to do the appraisal process," he said.

The mayor indicated last month that state authorities had asked for more information on the proposed site in Yumeshima.

Last week, the Osaka Prefecture governor said the proposed IR plan could still be held "between autumn and winter in fiscal 2029," and that date was "unaffected by the long-term review" by the national government of the metropolitan's IR district development plan.

BY: 바카라사이트