MACAU, China : From among a forest of cranes gathered on a plot of reclaimed land at the edge of the former Portuguese enclave of Macau, a colossal new gambling haven is rising at an incredible rate.

The first of what is expected to be at least seven massive hotel-casino complexes stands at one end, still under construction but already displaying the opulence of what will be the region's largest hotel with 3,000 rooms.

Next to it, builders are putting the finishing touches to southern China's largest and most high-tech convention space, a massive million square-foot beast of a building.

Further along, workmen have just begun laying the foundations of a movie and TV studio that will also double, when it opens next year, as a Florida theme park-style entertainment centre.

Also included in plans are an arena-sized concert venue, dozens of restaurants and some of Asia's largest retail spaces.

Dubbed the Cotai Strip after the two small islands it straddles -- Coloane and Taipa -- it is for the moment a chaotic mess of construction vehicles and half-finished buildings.

But economists believe that within four years this plot in the heart of Asia's Las Vegas will be the powerhouse driving the world's biggest casino destination.

"Cotai is where it's at -- we would be foolish not to be there," American casino mogul Steve Wynn said when the first of his Asian casino-hotels opened in the main part of Macau last year.

Wynn's endorsement is particularly symbolic as Cotai is the brainchild of his arch-rival in Las Vegas, Sheldon Adelson, chairman of Sands, the giant that runs the landmark Venetian in Nevada, a replica of which will be the first hotel-casino to open on the new strip later this year.

Adelson saw the potential of Cotai when he first arrived here looking for sites to build his Sands Macau, the tiny southern Chinese territory's first foreign-operated casino to open in more than 40 years.

The portly billionaire was the first to take advantage of newly relaxed casino ownership rules, introduced in 2001 as a means of regenerating what had become a declining gaming industry in a city that has for more than a century derived most of its income from casinos.

Immediately spotting Macau's potential, Adelson spent billions reclaiming land from the South China Sea to house his vision of an Asian casino city.

Since then, Macau's traditional casino heart, the small peninsula about three miles to the north, has flourished.

At least half a dozen huge casinos, including Wynn Macau and Hong Kong-based Galaxy's StarWorld have opened there in the past three years and 16 hotels are under construction.

The upshot has been that even before the Cotai strip opens, Macau is already the world's single largest casino centre, pulling in 6.4 billion dollars last year to eclipse the combined earnings of Las Vegas' famous strip.

Economic growth at 26 percent over the past four years has been driven largely by a massive influx of Chinese tourists.

Macau authorities Wednesday revealed that arrivals for 2006 rose to a record 22 million, up 17 percent on 2005 and double that of 2003. Mainland travellers accounted for 12 million of the total.

Credit ratings agency Standard and Poor's predicts such growth will continue and expects that in the next four years, Macau will overtake the whole of Las Vegas in terms of earnings.

"Growth in Macau is being driven by an increasing number of tourism attractions such as entertainment, unique architecture and superior hotel experiences that are attracting new first time visitors," said Jonothan Galaviz, gaming analyst at Las Vegas-based Globalysis.

"The creation of these attractions ... is driving new incremental tourism and increasing the macro-spend per visit as well."

Economists cautiously expect the Cotai project to reap huge riches for Macau but warn there must be no hitches.

"Concerns focus on the operators' ability to complete construction on schedule and within budget," an S and P report warned earlier this week.

"Although demand for gambling is forecast to remain strong, it may not rise quickly enough to absorb the tremendous amount of gaming and non-gaming supply scheduled to begin operation over the next 24 months."

- AFP /ls