IOI Prop unit buys S’pore land for condo project

IOI Prop unit buys S’pore land for condo project

By ANGIE NG

PETALING JAYA: IOI Properties (S) Pte Ltd (IOIP), a wholly owned unit of IOI Properties Bhd, together with its joint venture partner, Ho Bee Investment Ltd, have successfully tendered for a 5.3-acre land parcel in Singapore’s Sentosa Cove, for S$1.097bil cash.

In a filing with Bursa Malaysia yesterday, IOI Properties said a new joint venture company, Pinnacle (Sentosa) Pte Ltd, which is 65%-owned by IOI Properties, had been set up to acquire the land and undertake its development into an upmarket condominium project.

The 99-year leasehold land parcel under the Pinnacle Collection has a maximum permissible gross plot ratio of 2.6.

The site would have a condominium of up to 20 storeys, the tallest building in Sentosa Cove. The maximum number of units allowed in the development is 357, while the maximum permissible gross floor area is 602,359 sq ft.
An artist’s impression of the Seaview Collection condominiums
When completed, the project will offer panoramic views of the South China Sea, the Southern Islands, Tanjong golf course and the city skyline.

The site is the final piece of condominium land to be launched by Sentosa Cove. Pinnacle Collection is one of the two condominium parcels flanking the entrance of the marina leading into Sentosa Cove.

Ho Bee is also the joint-venture partner of IOIP for the successful tender and acquisition in March last year of a 3.6-acre parcel under the Seaview Collection in Sentosa Cove.

A luxury condominium development comprising two eight-storey apartment blocks of 151 units of various sizes is being planned on the site, and sales are expected to commence in the first half of the year.

A company spokesman said the two developments in Sentosa Cove would start contributing to IOI Properties from the next financial year ending June 30, 2009.

He said the designs for the Pinnacle condominiums were still being finalised. The residences would have an average built-up area of 2,000 sq ft.

Going by the existing market price of between S$2,000 and S$3,000 per sq ft for recent condominium projects in Singapore, the Pinnacle Collection project can expect to generate a gross development value of close to S$2bil while the Seaview project will gross around S$1.25bil.

In the statement, IOI Properties said Singapore was chosen as a platform for the group’s regional diversification as properties in the republic were presently one of the most sought after in the region.

“Our association with luxury landmark developments in Sentosa Cove will enhance the IOI Properties brand name and reputation as a luxury quality homes developer not only in Malaysia and Singapore, but also in the larger South-East Asia region,” it added.

Source : Channel NewsAsia - 11 Jan 2008

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Singapore SIA’s A380 plane gets stuck on grass verge at Changi Airport’s T3

Singapore SIA’s A380 plane gets stuck on grass verge at Changi Airport’s T3

SINGAPORE: A Singapore Airlines A380 plane accidentally ended on the grass verge off the tarmac at Changi Airport’s new Terminal 3 on Thursday evening.

SIA said a truck which was being used to push back the SQ221 flight from Singapore to Sydney, experienced some failure.

This caused the truck to disconnect with the aircraft, which then came into contact with the grass verge.

The airline said the plane was not under its own power at the time.

The plane’s 446 passengers are being disembarked so it can be positioned back onto the tarmac and inspected for any damage, before returning to service.

Arrangements are being made to enable as many passengers as possible to continue their journey to Sydney early Friday, using a Boeing 747-400 aircraft instead.

The aircraft involved in the incident was scheduled to depart at 8.30pm on Thursday.

Nobody was injured in the incident and SIA said it’s too early to know what caused it.

However, it will investigate the incident and is filing reports with the relevant Singapore authorities. -CNA/vm
Source : Channel NewsAsia - 11 Jan 2008

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Air Asia reveals price plan for new S’pore-Kuala Lumpur route

Air Asia reveals price plan for new S’pore-Kuala Lumpur route

By Asha Popatlal,
Air Asia reveals price plan for new Singapore-Kuala Lumpur route
SINGAPORE : Competition among the budget carriers are set to take off, now that the battle to open up the highly-restricted Singapore-Kuala Lumpur air route has been won.

Singapore-based carriers Tiger Airways and Jetstar Asia revealed their fares and promotions for the air route last week, while Malaysia’s Air Asia announced its strategy on Thursday.

“I believe this is a massive market. It’s the only route in Asia that’s had regression. Every other route has grown tremendously but the KL-Singapore (route) has shrunk in what is a booming travel market. Once we get the price elasticity right, I think it will be a huge route,” said Tony Fernandes, Group CEO of Air Asia.

For now, Air Asia has two return flights daily but it eventually hopes to increase this to 20 return flights in five years.

It’s an aggressive growth plan for Air Asia. The airliner hopes to carry just under 250,000 passengers to start with, but grow that very quickly to half a million.

In five years time, with access between Singapore and other Malaysian cities, it hopes to carry between 5-7 million passengers a year.

But for now, the big question for passengers is, which budget carrier to go for once the budget flights take off on February 1.

Observers said this will depend not just on the starting specials but also average fares, timing of the flights and the terminals they fly out from because that will add to the cost.

For starters, Air Asia is offering 30,000 free seats, Tiger Airways is offering 15,000 free seats, while Jetstar is offering a “buy one, get one free” special.

Air Asia and Tiger will be using primarily low cost terminals, while Jetstar will use the main terminals.

While budget carriers have insisted they will create new markets, one analyst said he expects two parties to take some heat - the KTM train system in the immediate term, and in the long term, possibly Malaysian Airlines (MAS).

“For MAS, they will find that more Malaysians will be lured to Air Asia because of marketing and low prices. MAS will see profit margins in this sector go down significantly, not in the near term but (in the longer term),” said Shukor Yusof, an aviation analyst at Standard & Poor’s.

Going forward, all eyes are also on when other Malaysian cities, such as Penang and Langkawi, will be opened to low cost travel.

“I think they will take it at one step at a time. This is a watershed agreement. We will see how it goes, looking at the response from passengers and any teething problems that may arise,” said Shukor.

Still, barring astronomical jet fuel prices, Shukor added that he believes this could happen as early as end this year. - CNA /ls

Source : Channel NewsAsia - 11 Jan 2008

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