11,000 construction workers face redundancy in Macau

Around 11,000 construction workers in Macau face the axe after casino operator Las Vegas Sands put a multibillion development on hold.

Two schemes on Macau's Cotai strip, including three casinos and two hotels, have been suspended, the gaming giant said.

At a press conference today, the firm said around 2,000 of the workers were from Macau and the remainder from Hong Kong, mainland China and other countries.

The announcement comes after the firm decided to suspend several projects globally on Monday following worse-than-expected results for the third quarter. It also has construction schemes in Las Vegas, Singapore and Pennsylvania.

Last week, the firm said it was in danger of breaching lending conditions and defaulting on $5.2bn (£3.5bn) in credit facilities following falling revenue from gamblers and tightening market conditions.

The firm's Asia president, Stephen Weaver, said the company was trying to arrange $1.5-$2bn(£1bn-£1.4bn) in financing to re-start the projects but it was not clear when the funding might come through.

He said: "We've got $1.2bn (£811m) sunk in to the ground, we're not going to walk away from it," he said. "I think there's no possibility that it's never going to start again."