But before the integrated resort can open, Osaka must solve a separate problem: preparing an artificial island for a development expected to receive 20 million visitors every year.
Osaka City has allocated JPY12.405 billion — approximately USD77 million — to Yumeshima (夢洲) infrastructure and land works during fiscal 2026.
Almost all of that money is not being spent on the casino, hotels or entertainment facilities. It is being used to make the site capable of supporting them.
Most of the budget is going into the ground
Of the JPY12.405 billion allocated for Yumeshima this year, JPY11.8 billion — approximately USD73 million — is assigned to improving the land reserved for the IR.
The work covers three problems identified by the city:
Soil contamination
Liquefaction risk
Underground obstructions
In fiscal 2026, the immediate focus is liquefaction mitigation.
That is a significant issue on Yumeshima. The island was created through land reclamation in Osaka Bay, meaning its suitability for a development of this scale depends on extensive ground preparation.
Osaka City owns the land and has accepted responsibility for addressing these conditions. Its official position is that the IR will become the central attraction of a new international tourism district and that ensuring the land is fit for use is therefore an obligation of the owner.
This creates an important distinction in the project’s economics.
MGM Osaka Corporation — MGM大阪株式会社 — is financing and developing the resort itself. The public sector is paying for land-related work and parts of the transport network surrounding it.
Both are necessary for the same project, but they do not appear under the same investment figure.
The remaining budget expands access to the island
A further JPY605 million, approximately USD3.8 million, has been allocated to railway, road and surrounding infrastructure.
The projects include:
A new southwest access passage at Yumeshima Station
Design work connecting the Yumeshima–Nishima route with a proposed ferry route
Improvements around the future ferry terminal
Road upgrades on Yumeshima Route 4
Development of the transport plaza outside Yumeshima Station
Roads serving the island’s second development phase
These are not temporary construction measures. They form part of the permanent access network intended to support the IR, logistics activity and the wider redevelopment of the former Expo site.
The city expects the design and construction programme to continue from fiscal 2026 through fiscal 2030 — the same period in which MGM Osaka is scheduled to move towards opening.
Osaka City allocated JPY12.405 billion (approximately USD77 million) to Yumeshima land and infrastructure works in fiscal 2026. Land improvement accounts for 95.1% of the total, while worker and construction traffic will place additional pressure on the island’s access network. Source: Osaka City.
Construction is becoming a logistics operation of its own
The scale of work on Yumeshima is already producing a second infrastructure challenge: moving thousands of workers and construction vehicles onto an island with limited access routes.
An Osaka City traffic assessment estimates that worker commuting will reach 1,524 vehicles per day in August 2026.
Construction traffic is then expected to peak at 2,125 vehicles per day in December.
Those figures combine work connected to the IR, the removal of Expo facilities and other infrastructure projects. Different contractors are effectively sharing the same constrained transport network while several large developments proceed simultaneously.
The city modelled traffic across Yumeshima’s northern expressway route, northern general-road route, southern route and central route.
Its assessment found that traffic should remain within capacity during 2026. The most heavily used route is expected to be the southern access route, reaching approximately 81% of capacity during its busiest hour.
That leaves some headroom, but not an unlimited amount.
Osaka is continuing to monitor the Yume-Mai Bridge (夢舞大橋), Yumesaki Tunnel (夢咲トンネル), Konohana Bridge and nearby junctions through live cameras. Traffic volumes for 2027 and later were still being reviewed when the latest assessment was published.
The previous allocation was larger than the final forecast
The city initially budgeted JPY24.8 billion — approximately USD154 million — for liquefaction measures and the removal of underground obstructions in fiscal 2025.
After reviewing the execution of the work, it now expects actual spending for that year to be closer to JPY10.4 billion, approximately USD65 million.
That reduction should not be interpreted automatically as a cut to the project. It reflects the city’s updated estimate of how much of the approved budget will actually be used.
Land improvement remains scheduled to continue through fiscal 2030.
The IR extends beyond its 49-hectare site
MGM Osaka is planned for approximately 492,000 square metres of Yumeshima, with around 780,000 square metres of total floor space.
The resort is expected to include three hotels with approximately 2,500 rooms, a 3,500-seat theatre, conference facilities, exhibition space, restaurants, entertainment venues and a casino occupying no more than 3% of the IR’s total floor area.
Osaka forecasts around 20 million annual visitors, including approximately six million arriving from outside Japan.
A destination of that scale cannot function as an isolated private development. It needs roads, rail access, ferry infrastructure, prepared land and sufficient capacity to absorb both construction and future visitor traffic.
That is the more complete way to read MGM Osaka’s investment.
The headline figure describes the resort. The public infrastructure budget shows what must be built underneath and around it before the resort can operate.
East Asia Reports
Web: eastasiareports.com
Author — Adrià Mas Rodríguez
Budget and infrastructure figures are taken from Osaka City’s fiscal 2026 development programme and its Yumeshima traffic assessment. USD equivalents are approximate, using the Bank of Japan’s August reference rate of JPY161 per USD.