Governor Hodo Nakamura of Nagasaki prefecture announced at the Kyushu Regional Association’s Meeting held in Yamaguchi Prefecture on 29 October that he would like to have an IR operator selected next summer.
Nagasaki has already postponed its RFP process due to a lack of clarity on the country’s Basic Policy as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. The government has since announced it will postpone the start of the application period for prefectures and their operator partners by nine months until October 2021.
According to the Nagasaki Shimbun, the prefecture expects that the national Basic Policy will be announced later this year, and the prefecture will announce its own implementation policy soon after. The prefecture’s policy is to select a business operator by the summer of next year before the application period starts.
At the Kyushu Governor’s Association meeting, Governor Nakamura also proposed the establishment of the “Kyushu IR Promotion Council” which would connect IR businesses and local private companies. The proposal is expected to be approved at the Kyushu Regional Strategy Conference on 30 November.
The Kyushu Governor’s Association consists of the governors of seven prefectures in Kyushu as well as Yamaguchi and Okinawa. The Kyushu Regional Strategy Council is formed by the Kyushu Governor’s Association and economic organizations with the goal of pursuing an IR bid for Nagasaki Prefecture.