Christmas Island to loose major earner
Christmas Island to loose major earner
JAKARTA (JP): The owner of Christmas Island Resort has
appealed to the Supreme Court in Western Australia to appoint any
party except Casino Austria to manage the resort in order to save
the property as well as hundreds of its employees.
A director of Christmas Island Resort PTY Ltd., the private
firm which owns the resort, Herman Gani, said yesterday that his
party was involved in a dispute with Casino Austria
International, the publicly-listed firm which has been operating
the resort since 1995.
"We understand if we are not allowed to manage the resort
ourselves, but please assign some other party," said Gani, adding
that Casino Austria is also involved in a dispute with a casino
owner in Cairns.
He said that there have been management problems since
Christmas Island Resort was opened in 1993.
"Just a year after Christmas Island Resort opened the
management caused the resort to suffer losses," he said.
"By November last year we suffered losses of A$28 million
(US$21.5 million). We expect to encounter losses of about A$2
million per month and if the situation is unchanged, we won't be
standing by the end of this year."
According to Gani, Christmas Island, a small island in the
Indian Ocean, could lose a major foreign exchange earner if the
dispute is not settled immediately. The resort has become the
biggest economic activity on the island, which boasts 2,100
residents and more than 200 million crabs.
"In addition to mismanagement we understand that the
maintenance is also very poor. We are not blaming Casino Austria,
but some of the company's executives are less capable of managing
the resort," Gani said
He said that based on a contract signed in 1993, Casino
Austria would operate Christmas Island Resort until 1998.
The 150-room resort is owned by Indonesian businessman Robby
Sumampow and Australian businessman Frank Woodmore.
"We proposed terminating the contract in 1995," said Gani.
"But Casino Austria will continue running the resort until there
is a legal appointment. The trial that began last August will
resume in March."
Casino Austria executive Allan Tan responded by saying that
the owners were prepared to go to "any lengths" to drive out his
company.
The Union of Christmas Island Workers, which has called for a
government-appointed administrator to take over, has
misunderstood the situation, Tan said as quoted by The West
Australian on Wednesday.
Gani said that Sumampow had several firms dealing in property
and hotel management in Jakarta, Surabaya (East Java) and Bali.
Among Sumampow's properties are Hotel Acacia in Central
Jakarta, Darmo Bukit Golf in Surabaya and a planned shopping
center for Denpasar, Bali.
The 137-square-kilometer Christmas Island, controlled by
Australia, is situated about 3,000 kilometers north of Perth and
500 km south of Jakarta. Christmas Island Resort opened in
November 1993 and has since become popular with Indonesians for
its gambling, which is illegal in Indonesia.
Gani said that the resort recently hired 350 workers but that
it has become less popular in recent years due to ineffective
promotion. (icn)