考察離島博弈發展 港商登門探路

Hong Kong's Melco International Development Ltd. Executive Director Tsui Che Yin and five other people made a special trip to Kinmen and called on Magistrate Li. Their purpose was to acquire first-hand understanding as well as to inspect the tourism industry conditions and land investment potential in relation to development of legal gambling in Kinmen. Magistrate Li expressed that, since the concrete content of legalization of offshore island gambling operations was still in the air,(1) it was not a proper time to hold the public referendum.(2) He said, the government would abide by(3) the decision of the public.
　 香港新濠國際發展有限公司執行董事徐志賢一行六人，專程抵金拜會金門縣長李炷烽，就金門發展博奕觀光產業條件及土地投資等等進行實地了解與考察，為前進金門投資探路；李縣長表明，離島開放博弈業要等有具體內容再訴諸民意公投，一切以民意為依歸。

Mr. Tsui and the others had a deep conversation with Magistrate Li on issues related to the investment environment and development potential in Taiwan, Hong Kong and China, as well as kinmen's conditions for developing legal gambling and land investment. Melco is a public company in Hong Kong. Its principal operations include leisure resort development and entertainment. They also provide investment, banking and financing services. Tsui commented that, they made the trip to Kinmen particularly for the purpose of understanding the situation and the standpoint of the county government, because they had learned that opening of legal casinos on offshore islands was on the way.
　 徐志賢一行曾就兩岸三地投資環境與發展空間、金門發展博奕條件及土地投資等等議題，與李縣長進行一場「務實交談」；新濠為香港上市公司，主要從事休閒、娛樂業務，並提供投資銀行與金融服務，徐志賢表示是得知離島可望開放博弈業，專程到金門了解狀況及縣府立場。

Magistrate Li expressed that the public vote required for developing legal gambling on offshore islands could not be conducted yet because the related details were still vague.(4) Also, the public referendum should be initiated by private organizations, not the government. As for whether the people in Kinmen were for or against opening of legal casinos in Kinmen, he added, past surveys had shown strong opposition. The government would abide by the decision of the people.
針對離島博奕發展，須先行辦理全民投票程序，李縣長表示，因後續具體內容並不清楚，因此，目前舉辦公投有困難。公投由民間團體發起，而非由政府主導，至於，金門設立賭場，民間是贊同抑或反對，李縣長說，依過去民調顯示，民間反對聲浪大，政府則以民意為依歸，取決民意。

Li emphasized that although the Legislative Yuan had passed the Gambling Law, the related complementary measures were still being established. It was too early to discuss the issues of potential investors, distribution of profits or limits on investors etc. These concrete contents should be in place before the public referendum could be conducted. In case that the gambling industry is not what the people expected, then holding a referendum would be pointless and irresponsible.
李縣長強調，博奕條款經中央立法通過後，目前連配套措施尚未出爐，現在談由誰來投資、利潤分配、以及投資對象限制等等，可以說言之過早；要等有具體內容再訴諸民意公投較妥，否則不是民眾期盼的博弈業，現在舉辦公投僅是白忙一場，反而不負責任。

As for the investment environment and market in Kinmen, Magistrate Li also expressed his frustrations as he suffered one after another setbacks(5) recruiting investors due to the limited authority of the local government. In spite of the many interested investors, as the Kinmen Magistrate, he had been unable to give any promises or clear answers. However, as long as it was within the bounds of legal regulations and his authority, he would be happy to give assistance to investors who could really help with Kinmen's progress.
其次，有關金門投資環境與巿場，李縣長也以地方政府權責有限，對外招商屢屢受阻，倍感乏力，儘管許多擬投資者有期待，但身為金門縣長卻無法給任何承諾及明確答案；不過，對有決心投資金門者，只要法律及權責範圍內，他站在地方發展立場仍樂於協助。

Mr. Tsui expressed that he could understand the attitude of Kinmen County Government. He said it was still too early to talk about investment and his company would perform thorough research to make further assessment. Members from the Melco had visited Penghu for the same purpose. According to Tsui, the ambiance(6) was different but Kinmen appeared to be better than Penghu in leisure resort environment. They would do more evaluation to determine whether Melco would make investments.
對於金門縣政府態度，徐志賢表示，可以理解；他說，現在談投資還為時尚早，將好好研究，再進一步評估。新濠公司先前曾到澎湖離島考察，徐志賢表示，金門和澎湖有不同風格，但金門度假休閒環境感覺比澎湖略勝一籌，但是否投資還要進一步評估。

■1. in the air-尚未確定。
■2. referendum-(n)公民投票。
■3. abide by-遵守、信守；承擔～的後果。
■4. vague-(adj.)模糊不清的，朦朧的。
■5. setback-(n)挫折、失敗。
■6. ambiance-(n)氣氛，格調，周圍環境。
資料來源：金門縣政府