Making Singapore a test bed for products of the future

Making Singapore a test bed for products of the future 

EDB’s plan involves developing ideas in areas like health care, urban living

By Nicholas Fang 

THE long-running programme to entice overseas businesses to locate their regional bases in Singapore is receiving a strategic boost.
A new initiative developed by the Economic Development Board (EDB) builds on the work of the past 20 years but encompasses an approach that could bring double the benefits.

Called Future.Singapore, it will focus on business themes in which Singapore is seeking solutions, allowing the country itself to be used as a working model and test bed.

This added benefit will come on top of the traditional foreign investment flows into the country, said EDB chairman Lim Siong Guan.

He identified three new business themes under the new initiative: urban solutions; wellness, ageing and health care; and lifestyle products and services.

Mr Lim said in an interview yesterday that the initiative’s tagline would be: The Future In Singapore - Singapore In The Future.

‘We will seek to produce new products and services that the world will want in the future which are first produced here, hence, The Future In Singapore.

‘We will also develop and test new ideas where we will be at the forefront in the use of technology for urban liveability, health care and quality living, which is where Singapore In The Future comes in.’

The EDB’s assistant managing director for industry development, Ms Aw Kah Peng, said the three business themes were identified after wider global trends were analysed.

‘There are certain mega trends that are affecting the world and Singapore, and we are looking at how these work and how we can benefit from them,’ she said.

Mr Lim said this contrasted with the EDB’s earlier strategy of focusing on attracting businesses that could be grouped into clusters according to industry.

‘That was more supply-driven, where we would look at what businesses companies were engaged in, and then create an attractive and conducive environment for them here in Singapore,’ he said.

‘While we will continue to do that, we are now also looking at what is being demanded by the marketplace and seeing how we can develop solutions here.’

The new industries the EDB is hoping to develop under the latest initiative range across a wide spectrum. They include clean water and energy; waste management; urban planning; wellness and health services; products for an ageing population; and business opportunities targeting the rising middle class in Singapore and in the region.

Mr Lim said foreign companies would not consider investing in Singapore in these sectors unless there were competent local companies already operating.

‘A good example is clean water. We started Newater to meet a need for supplies of clean water in Singapore, and now it has become a draw for a high level of research and development activities in that field here,’ he said.

The new sectors are also expected to appeal to young Singaporeans looking for exciting careers.

‘Many young people are passionate about issues such as clean energy, or are interested in products such as interactive games,’ said Mr Lim.

EDB assistant managing director Kenneth Tan, who heads the board’s New Business Group, said the EDB itself had received strong responses from prospective employees.

‘There have been many people applying at the EDB for jobs that deal specifically with the business sectors under the new initiative, such as urban solutions,’ he said.

Mr Lim said it is an encouraging sign that the EDB is targeting industries that will have a wide appeal for Singaporeans looking for jobs, as this is a key objective for the board when bringing in foreign investment projects.
Source : Straits Times - 15 Feb 2008

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$500m upgrade for Singapore Changi’s Terminal 1

$500m upgrade for Singapore Changi’s Terminal 1 

27-year-old building gets makeover from May and works will be completed by 2011

By Karamjit Kaur, Aviation Correspondent 
 
CHANGI Airport’s grand old dame is getting a $500 million extreme makeover in a bid to secure the airport’s status as one of the best in the region.
An upgrade of Terminal 1 (T1) will start in May and, when the work is done in 2011, travellers will bask in more open spaces and facilities, the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS) announced yesterday.

Changi, which is in a fierce battle for the title of the region’s top airport, needs to constantly upgrade to keep the airlines and travellers it has, as well as woo new ones, experts have said.

Like Terminal 2 (T2), which underwent a recently completed $240 million upgrade, the facelift for the 27-year-old T1 will be done in phases.

An airport spokesman said there will be minimal disruptions to operations and passengers will not be inconvenienced unnecessarily.

She said: ‘All noisy works will be done during off-peak hours and also in the night. The noise levels will be constantly measured during the day and, to minimise construction noise, the hoardings will be insulated.’

Northwest Airlines - one of close to 50 airlines that operate out of T1 - is confident it will be business as usual.

Its Singapore general manager, Mr Yeoh Hock Thye, said: ‘This is not the first time major upgrading works are being done. When T2 was upgraded, it did not affect airlines operating there so we are not unduly concerned.’

T1’s facelift will be done by Takenaka Corporation, a Japanese construction and architectural firm, the CAAS said.

Apart from upgrading the building’s facade and other areas like the arrival and departure halls, there will also be improvements made to passenger flow at key areas.

T1 opened in 1981 when Changi Airport started operations. In 1995, a $147 million renovation was completed. Five years after that, 14 new gates were added.

But this is the first time the terminal has been slated for a major overhaul.

Because T1 was built 27 years ago, works will also be done to ensure that the terminal complies with the latest building codes.

The extensive works needed and the higher cost of construction add up to a significantly higher upgrading bill - $500 million compared to the $240 million for T2.

After the upgrading, T1 - which currently spans just over 280,000 sq m - will continue to handle 21 million passengers a year.

The terminal now has about 50 shops and 30 food and beverage outlets.

With the opening of T3 on Jan 9, Changi now has a total of about 230 retail stores and over 110 eateries.

Last year, the airport - which can handle 64 million passengers annually - saw a record of 36.7 million fliers.
Source : Straits Times - 15 Feb 2008

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12 sites set aside for new hotels to ease room crunch - Singapore

12 sites set aside for new hotels to ease room crunch  - Singapore

12,000 new rooms to be added to current 37,000

By Natalie Soh 
MAKING ROOM: This old Safra site in Bukit Merah may host a 540-room hotel, under the Government’s land sale programme. — ST PHOTO: CHEW SENG KIM
 
THE old Safra clubhouse site in Bukit Merah may get a new lease of life - as a hotel.
It is currently up for developers to indicate interest under the Government’s land sale programme, and could wind up being a 540-room hotel.

The site is one of 12 slated for hotel developments - some of which are in the unlikeliest of places.

For instance, one site, in Jellicoe Road, sits next to the Jalan Besar CC and will offer views of the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority Building in the Lavender area.

Just a few metres away will be another that will sit next to HDB blocks.

The release of the 12 sites - to be completed by the first half of the year, should developers actually take them up to develop rooms - should help ease a hotel room crunch that some players say is threatening to derail ambitious plans to attract record numbers of tourists.
The sites are located in areas as diverse as Bukit Merah - ‘minutes’ drive from Orchard Road’, according to the online prospectus - and in Outram Road, at the edge of Chinatown, a sure-fire tourism hot spot.

The release of the plots follows similar exercises in the last two years, and points to steady growth in the tourism industry.

Some 10.3 million visitors - a record high - visited Singapore last year.

They fuelled increases in the average room rates, which also broke records month after month.

The average room rate last year hit $202 - a growth of 23 per cent over 2006, and total room revenue reached $1.8 billion. Hotel occupancy also hit 87 per cent.

Even more tourists are expected here this year - 10.8 million in all - driven by events such as the Formula 1 Grand Prix in September.

This is likely to make the room crunch worse and push rates up - hotel rates here are already the sixth-highest among Asian cities - squeezing out low-end tour groups and budget travellers, which industry players say may comprise up to 30 per cent of visitors here.

Tour agents are already scrambling to put their guests up, and are having to resort to hotels in Geylang and the East Coast because rooms downtown just aren’t available.

And because of rising rates, some agents are being forced to send budget tour groups to Johor Baru or Batam instead.

The release of the 12 sites though, is aimed at averting a real squeeze down the road: in 2010, to be precise.

That is when many predict push will come to shove.

Said Mr Donald Han, managing director of property consultants Cushman & Wakefield: ‘It is estimated that in 2010, 14 million foreigners will visit Singapore.

‘Based on a conservative average length of stay of 3.4 days, Singapore will experience an acute shortage of rooms.’

He added: ‘In short, existing hotel stocks need to be doubled in the next three years to meet rampant demand.’

Singapore has said it wants to get 17 million visitors by 2015.

The 12 sites should contribute about 5,000 rooms to the mix within the next few years.

Another big contribution will come from the Marina Bay Sands and Resorts World at Sentosa integrated resorts, which will add another 4,400 rooms to the inventory.

All told, including other upcoming hotels, 12,000 rooms are expected to be added to the 37,000 now available.

It may not be quite enough, but Mr Robert Khoo, CEO of the National Association of Travel Agents Singapore, will take it.

‘If you tell me that the rooms would be here tomorrow, I’d be happier. Hopefully, they’ll help bring down the room rates as well.

‘Some of my agents have told me about how they have lost tours because they can’t secure rooms.’
 

Source : Straits Times - 15 Feb 2008

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MTI revises Singapore economic growth forecast for 2008 to 4-6%

MTI revises Singapore economic growth forecast for 2008 to 4-6%

By Jennifer Alejandro, Lukman Khairuddin & Yvonne Cheong,

SINGAPORE: Singapore’s economy is expected to grow by 4 to 6 percent this year, down from the previous forecast of 4.5 to 6.5 percent.

The downward revision is the result of deteriorating external economic conditions and greater downside risks, said the Trade and Industry Ministry, in a report on Thursday morning.

According to the report, current conditions suggest that the US will likely enter a mild recession in the first half of 2008, but strong fundamentals, coupled with fiscal and monetary stimulus, will help support recovery in the second half.

If this happens, Singapore’s economy will likely grow by close to 6 percent.

However, the government said a protracted slowdown in the US will hit external demand-oriented industries here, like wholesale electronics, and this may push growth to the lower end of the forecast range - at 4 percent.

Reacting to the downward revision of Singapore’s economic growth, CEO and Chief Economist at CIMB-GK Research, Mr Song Seng Wun, said the data is within his expectations.

He said: “At this juncture, I still think that the high end of the forecast is achievable. Looking at the data in the fourth quarter, especially for the composite leading index, the fourth quarter managed to climb – I think 0.7 percent on a quarter-on-quarter basis. So that suggests that for the first quarter and probably the second quarter, we may see fairly decent growth.”

Ravi Menon, Permanent Secretary, MTI, said: “What’s important to remember is that in either scenarios, we’re looking at slower growth this year, and slower growth should be viewed in the context of the trend growth that we’ve seen in the last four years. It represents a moderation to the economy’s underlying potential rate of growth.”

Singapore’s economy in 2007 grew by 7.7 percent, a slower pace compared to 2006 when the economy grew 8.2 percent.

In the fourth quarter last year, the economy grew by 5.4 percent after a 9.5 percent growth in the previous quarter.

The star performer in Q4 was the construction sector which expanded by 24 percent. Another strong performer was the financial services sector, which grew by 16 percent.

The manufacturing sector, however, saw a slowdown. It posted growth of 5.8 percent in 2007, slower than the 12 percent growth seen in the previous year.

The weakened growth was due to a 28 percent contraction in the biomedical manufacturing cluster as a result of plant maintenance shutdowns and changes in product mix.

Nonetheless, the government is not expecting Singapore to dip into recession.

Selena Ling, Treasury Economist, OCBC, said: “The key question really is – is the pharmaceutical (sector) going to see a quick rebound in the first quarter of this year and for the rest of this year?

“I think our take on that is that with the global slowdown, external demand for manufacturing will be affected adversely. We do not expect a very quick turnaround in manufacturing in the first quarter of this year.”

However, economists do expect consumers to tighten their purse strings because of higher inflation.

This year’s government Budget is widely expected to contain measures to cushion the effects of inflation and the higher costs of living on the lower income group.

Halimah Yacob, Assistant Secretary-General, NTUC, said: “We cannot expect wage increases to be as good this year compared to last year, so the impact will be greater on them - the lower income group. Therefore, whatever proposals are being made in the Budget to help lower income workers will be greatly useful.”

Despite slower growth and higher inflation, the government believes the moderation in economic growth will help ease some of the cost pressures on the supply side and in turn dampen inflation.
- CNA/so

Source : Channel NewsAsia - 15 Feb 2008

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Sembawang E&C wins S$400m deal for Singapore Marina Bay Sands north podium

Sembawang E&C wins S$400m deal for Singapore Marina Bay Sands north podium
SINGAPORE : Sembawang Engineers and Constructors has won a S$400 million contract to build the North Podium of the Marina Bay Sands integrated resort.

The podium, which will have four upper levels and four basements, will house the casino, theatres and a retail arcade.

Construction work will start this month and expected to be completed by April 2009.

The company is also building the new Downtown Line Bayfront MRT station in Marina Bay, which will connect directly to the resort’s Meetings, Incentives, Conventions and Exhibitions (MICE) centre.

The S$5 billion Marina Bay Sands integrated resort is due to open late next year.

It will also feature hotel rooms housed in three towers with a sky park connecting the towers.

Sembawang E&C is no stranger to integrated resort products. It is also undertaking the entire foundation work and building a basement for the Resorts World at Sentosa integrated resort. That contract was worth S$250 million. - CNA /ls

Source : Channel NewsAsia - 15 Feb 2008

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Tender for Playfair Road Singapore industrial site closes with 12 bids

Tender for Playfair Road Singapore industrial site closes with 12 bids

By Ng Baoying

SINGAPORE: The tender for an industrial site at Playfair Road has attracted strong bids.

There were 12 bids for the 8,600 square metre site.

The highest bid of S$33 million was submitted by Trio Link Development. It works out to about S$142 per square foot per plot ratio.

According to property consultants CB Richard Ellis, this was the highest bid ever for a 60-year leasehold industrial site.

The Playfair Road site was opened for public tender on 10 January this year. - CNA/ac
Source : Channel NewsAsia - 15 Feb 2008

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