The developer behind Fiji's first casino insists the project will go ahead despite a number of delays.
One Hundred Sands Limited was granted a casino licence by the regime in December 2011 and construction on Denarau Island near Nadi, was expected to start last year.
Last week the government said it would not hesitate to cancel the licence if the company couldn't demonstrate that construction would begin soon.
The developer Larry Claunch says a change in location and challenges in securing funding set the project back.
He says they were operating in a different economic environment when they first set out a timeline.
"At the very beginning we really thought that it was very realistic but of course that was right at the time when the world was in the worst financial mess that it had been in in a long time so we were probably a little bit optimistic on how quickly we could get it done."
Larry Claunch says they have now secured the bulk of the funding and construction will start before the end of the year.
He says he's already paid a monthly US 100,000 dollar late penalty fee to the government, which kicked in this month under the terms of the licence.
