MGM Grand Macao, a Macao-U.S. jointly operated gaming resort project, has secured 700 million U.S. dollars in financing, local media reported Tuesday.

Macao Post Daily quoted MGM sources as saying that those which are to fund the project cover Bank of America, the Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation, Bank of China and a number of local banking groups.

MGM Grand Macao, a waterfront site on the Macao peninsula, will feature a large casino consisting 345 table games and 1,035 slot machines and a hotel with 600 rooms.

The project is reportedly budgeted at 1.06 billion U.S. dollars and is expected to open in the second half of 2007.

There are currently 18 casinos operating in Macao, a region with a population of 480,000.

(Xinhua News Agency January 10, 2006)