Singapore LTA lines up largest ever transport poll

Singapore LTA lines up largest ever transport poll 

Travel pattern survey of 10,000 households to cost $1m and help shape future policies

By Christopher Tan, Senior Correspondent 

MORE than 10,000 households will be polled in what is believed to be the biggest transport survey here to date.
The findings of the travel pattern survey will shape transport policies, track the efficiency of the road and rail networks, and hopefully improve life for commuters.

The Land Transport Authority (LTA) said the survey will help the Government in ‘projecting future travel demand’ so that it can better time the roll-out of transport infrastructure and services.

The LTA has commissioned Media Research Consultants - a firm owned by MediaCorp - to undertake the task for close to $1 million.

An LTA spokesman said that people will be asked ‘about the trips they made the day before, such as the mode of travel, starting and ending location, travel time’. The data collected will allow the body to monitor trends.

‘The survey will provide useful travel information that will facilitate LTA in policy planning and enhance transport services for commuters,’ she added.

The survey is in line with the Transport Ministry’s promise to put the travelling public at the centre of its policies. It already has a community outreach arm where feedback from residents is sought on the grassroots level.

Said chairman of the Government Parliamentary Committee for Transport Cedric Foo: ‘Commuter needs and expectations change over time and are affected by shifts in demography, income, family structure and so forth.

‘The only way to have a truly people-centred transport system is for LTA to conduct customer surveys regularly.’

Media Research Consultants’ contract for $997,000 is 60 per cent more than what international consultants Booz Allen Hamilton were paid for the recently completed Land Transport Review.

The LTA spokesman said the scope of services for this survey is different from the review undertaken by Booz Allen Hamilton.

‘There are extensive door-to-door household interviews to be conducted islandwide, and it is thus more labour-intensive,’ she said.

The Straits Times understands that some data will be used to gauge the success of initiatives in the Land Transport Review.

These include moves to raise the percentage of people taking public transport to 70 per cent by 2020, and to close the gap between journey times of buses and trains and those who travel by car.

Media Research Consultants’ vice-president for research and business development Andrew Lau said that data collection will take ‘five to six months’. The report will be ready by ‘year-end or early next year’.

The LTA said it last did a travel pattern survey in 2004, when 9,500 households were polled.

It also pointed out that its study is different from the household survey the Department of Statistics does periodically.

‘The survey commissioned by LTA aims to collect data on travel patterns on a more detailed level,’ its spokesman said.

Source : Straits Times  - 28 April 2008
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Mindy Yong

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Breeze by the east at Upper East Coast Road – Singapore – District 15 - 16

Breeze by the east at Upper East Coast Road – Singapore – District 15 - 16

About Breeze by the east : 7 blocks of 5-storey low rise condominium development

Indoor – outdoor connectivity Stretch your horizons on the open terraces and balcony that entend into the lush surroundings of the Breeze. Elegant windows let in cheerful rays of light into the 2 , 3 and 4 bedroom apartment and penthouses, offering cool breezy cross-ventilation in the privacy of a truly exclusive home,

Breeze by the east Location: 316, 318, 320, 322, 324, 326 & 328 Upper East Coast Road

Tenure: Freehold

Total Units: 88

Types of unit :

2 Bedroom – 1249 -1561 sq ft (14 units)

3 Bedroom – 1572 - 2045 sq ft (34 units)

3 Bedroom + 1 – 2185 - 2368 sqft (6 units)

4 Bedroom – 2077 - 2540 sq ft (16 units)

Penthouse – 2045 - 3229 sq ft (18 units)

Breeze by the east Expected Date of TOP: 31 July 2011

Breeze by the east Facilities:
Lap Pool
Hammock Pool
Children Pool
Pool Bar
Gymnasium
Function Room
Shower/Changing Room
Pavilion with BBQ area
Jacuzzi
Children Playground
Pool Deck Alcove
Fitness Corner
Exercise Stations

Singapore Real Estate , Singapore Properties- Buy , Sell , Rent ,invest

Mindy Yong

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http://www.hotvictory.com

Singapore to be manufacturing hub for Lanxess

Singapore to be manufacturing hub for Lanxess

Republic may become its Asian headquarters for butyl rubber
By RONNIE LIM

GERMANY’S Lanxess - which is building a mega 400 million euro (S$845 million) synthetic rubber plant on Jurong Island - is considering even more chemicals manufacturing projects here, its chairman Axel Heitmann has disclosed.
 
Dr Heitmann: Singapore plant will play a big role in Lanxess’ global manufacturing network 
Singapore could also eventually evolve as its Asian headquarters for butyl rubber, he added, especially with the world-scale plant here playing a strategic role in supplying this raw material for ‘green’ tyres to the fast-growing regional market, especially in China.

‘Singapore will become an important new manufacturing hub’ for the group, Dr Heitmann told BT in a recent interview in Shanghai.

‘We are building the highly sophisticated plant from scratch with the latest technologies and inventions incorporated into the process. It is a big project and a lot of factors had to be put into the equation . . . we needed the right set of raw materials, right infrastructure and partners,’ he stressed.

Significantly, it will play an important role in Lanxess’ global manufacturing network.

The bulk, or 60 per cent, of the Singapore plant’s output is reserved for the Chinese market, Dr Heitmann said, just as Lanxess recently acquired Brazilian synthetic rubber maker Petroflex to supply the Latin American market. Likewise, its existing Canadian and Belgium plants cater to markets in the West.

‘This is a big step. And given that there are a number of advantages to using Singapore as a manufacturing hub for this kind of product range, I believe these advantages can be helpful for other projects to come in the future,’ he said of its plans for the Republic.

While Dr Heitmann said that it was too early to disclose details, further manufacturing investments here could - apart from advanced polymers - also come from advanced intermediates and speciality chemicals. ‘I can picture that we come with other opportunities out of these other two Lanxess divisions,’ he said.

‘I’m looking for opportunities all the time. But we will take our time as we have a long-term approach, so we are running a very careful selection process,’ he said. The enormous support Lanxess has received from the authorities and others here ‘contribute to making Singapore one of our preferred locations for chemicals production’, he stressed.

Lanxess officials in February indicated that one of the overriding reasons for its decision to invest here was the ready availability of higher olefin raw materials from upcoming petrochemical complexes here, like Shell’s. And this factor is likely to figure in Lanxess’ future expansions here.

When its Jurong Island plant starts up in 2011, Singapore will play an integral role in Lanxess’ latest China strategy - announced by Dr Heitmann in Shanghai last week - to increasingly cater to the country’s growing demand for green products.

The Singapore plant’s production of halobutyl and regular butyl rubber will, for instance, be used by international tyre makers like Michelin, Goodyear and Bridgestone to make so-called green tyres, as these reduce rolling resistance. Every fifth filling of the petrol tank is caused by rolling resistance, Dr Heitmann explained.

‘So if all 30 million Chinese cars today were equipped with tyres with reduced rolling resistance . . . it would be possible to reduce carbon dioxide emissions in China by roughly two million tonnes per year,’ he said.

Another green product will be engineering plastics, such as that made at its Wuxi plant in China, which go into hybrid plastic/metal automotive components produced by vehicle manufacturers like Audi. These help reduce the vehicle weight, thus saving fuel and lowering carbon dioxide emissions.

Last year, China was the group’s fastest-growing market, accounting for US$600 million or 6 per cent of its global sales, with synthetic rubber (which Singapore will help produce) growing by 140 per cent.

The company expects growth of the green or environmentally friendly business segment in China to be double the rate of the overall market growth there.

Source : Business Times  - 28 April 2008

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More Japanese firms set up regional HQ Singapore here

More Japanese firms set up regional HQ Singapore here

Sales & marketing management most common RHQ function: survey
By CHUANG PECK MING

(SINGAPORE) More Japanese companies have capitalised on Singapore’s growth as a global business hub to set up regional headquarters (RHQs) here in the past two years, according to a recent survey.
Some 58 per cent of 227 Japanese companies polled in the survey in October and November last year indicated they had RHQ functions here, against 45 per cent in April-May 2005.

The joint survey was done by the Japanese Embassy in Singapore and the local offices of the Japanese Chamber of Commerce & Industry and the Japan External Trade Organisation.

Of those which have RHQ functions here, 84 per cent said ‘Singapore is not only a favourable location but it is considered as a comparatively better location’, up from 75 per cent two years ago. ‘The value of Singapore (to Japanese companies) is getting higher,’ the survey report says.

Yet the poll also shows a slight dip in the number of Japanese companies planning to expand their RHQs in Singapore - down two percentage points. A large 78-79 per cent of the Japanese firms indicated that higher wage increases and rising rentals of residential properties could pose problems in maintaining or expanding their RHQs here.

Some 69 per cent of the Japanese companies also cited the hike in office rentals as a likely stumbling block.
 
Still, ‘increase in cost of expatriates’ and ‘increase in office rent’ hardly figured in the decision of those Japanese companies which did not set up RHQs here.

Sixty-four per cent of these companies said it was ‘HQ’s decision’ not to have RHQ functions here. But for 89 per cent of those companies which have set up RHQs here, Singapore is a ‘good location to access to the region’. More than three quarters also were attracted by its ‘well-developed industrial infrastructures, such as logistics, transportations, financial, telecommunications, etc’.

Half - slightly up from two years ago - of the Japanese companies were impressed with Singapore’s ‘well-established legal systems and transparent and efficient procedures’.

There was also a higher number of Japanese companies - 44 per cent - lured by ‘the quality of life for foreigners’ here, but the number drawn by ‘utilising local manpower resources’ slipped from 49 per cent in 2005 to 44 per cent.

Sales and marketing management were the most common Japanese RHQ functions in Singapore, with 70 per cent indicating they performed this task. Next was financial management and corporate planning (business strategies, investment planning, etc).

Other RHQ functions performed by Japanese companies in Singapore included personnel affairs, management and human resources development, information systems, technological and engineering services, general affairs, logistics management, corporate communications, legal affairs and procurement management.

The report says Japanese companies based their RHQs in Singapore not just to manage different aspects of their businesses, but also to take advantage of the city’s location as a global business hub to manage sales and marketing as well as corporate planning.

Virtually all - 96 per cent - of the Japanese RHQs here have affiliates in South-east Asia reporting to them. About a third oversee operations in Oceania which include Australia, and South Asia. Just under one-fifth - 18 per cent - covered North-east Asia, especially South Korea.

Reflecting the growing importance of China to Japanese companies, the number of Japanese RHQs here that took care of operations in China fell in the past two years, according to the poll.

More and more Japanese companies in China have been reporting directly to their headquarters in Japan.
Source : Business Times  - 28 April 2008

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Mindy Yong

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Singapore among top picks for Japan’s foreign firms

Singapore among top picks for Japan’s foreign firms

64% say China is strategically the most important
By CHUANG PECK MING

(SINGAPORE) Foreign companies in Japan have picked Singapore as one of the most strategically important for business, along with countries such as China and India, according to a recent survey.
Singapore was among six Asian countries singled out by 10 per cent or more of 864 Japan-based foreign companies polled in September-October last year by the Japan External Trade Organisation.

The other Asian countries, apart from China and India, were South Korea, Hong Kong and Taiwan.

‘Apart from the above six, no other country or region reached 10 per cent,’ says the 107-page survey report on attitudes of foreign-affiliated companies toward direct investment in Japan.

Nearly two-thirds - 64 per cent - of the companies polled, the largest number, considered China to be the most strategically important ‘in the light of their parent companies’ intentions’. Next was India (29 per cent), followed by South Korea (26 per cent).

Hong Kong was picked by 14 per cent of the companies, Taiwan 13 per cent and Singapore 12 per cent.

‘Overwhelmingly, the most common reason offered for rating China as important was ‘prospects for significant expansion of the market’,’ the report says. ‘This was followed by ‘production-related costs are low’ and ‘labour is readily available’.’
 
The companies were impressed with India for similar reasons as China.

Just over half or 51 per cent of the foreign companies in Japan also thought the Korean market looked promising. But a sizeable number, 22 per cent, also disclosed that they have good connections - ‘influential business partners’ - in Korea.

They further noted that information and communication was established, and related industries (parts industries, logistics and other services) were readily available there.

Companies polled picked Hong Kong as strategically important because the city offered good prospects for significant market expansion. Many also felt workers were readily available in Hong Kong.

The potential for market expansion also made Taiwan attractive to many of the foreign companies in Japan - and quite a number were drawn there because they have ‘influential business partners’ and could easily have access to ‘related industries’.

While Singapore has a small market and labour is scarce here, it still has its attractions.

‘The leading reasons offered for rating Singapore strategically important were factors relating to the business environment, such as ‘information and communication infrastructure is established’, ‘few regulations and restrictions governing business activity’ and ‘transportation and distribution infrastructure such as ports and airports are established’,’ the report says.

Two-thirds of the companies polled - the biggest number - listed ’sales’ as the role of their operations in Japan. This was followed by ’services’ such as call centres (33 per cent) and ‘regional control and management’ (21 per cent).

While most of the Western companies polled were manufacturers in Japan, service was more dominant among the Asian companies, including those from Singapore.

Foreign companies in Japan were generally upbeat about the country’s economic prospects and indicated plans for new investments in ‘product development’ and ‘product development for Japanese specifications’.

They now also found it easier to do business in what has been regarded as the world’s toughest business environment. There were fewer complaints about ‘regulations, approvals or business licences’, ‘complexity of administrative procedures’ and ‘unsatisfactory preferential treatment and incentives’.

Instead, ‘difficulty in securing personnel’ and ‘high business costs’ have surfaced as the top gripes among foreign businesses in Japan.

Source : Business Times  - 28 April 2008

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Mindy Yong

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What if my condo’s Singapore en bloc sale fails?

What if my condo’s Singapore en bloc sale fails? 

Defaulting parties stand to lose their deposits and can be sued for non-completion of the sale; it’s also risky to buy a new home before a collective deal is closed

By Joyce Teo, Property Correspondent
 
Some owners of condominium units may still be keen on selling en bloc, but developers’ interest in collective sale sites has more or less dried up.
No residential sites have been sold en bloc in recent months. And given the market uncertainty these days, completion may not be a given for sites that have been sold.

Several collective sales have fallen through, with a few - Tulip Garden, Makeway View, Finland Gardens and Pender Court - already axed, regardless of whether approval from the Strata Titles Board (STB) was obtained.

A collective sale requires an 80 per cent minimum consent from owners before it can be sold. Unless there is unanimous consent, owners will have to get an order from the STB for the sale after they find a buyer.

After getting the order, they will have to wait for the buyer to complete the sale, which is when they will get their sale proceeds.

They have six months after the sale completion date to move out of the property.
 
The Sunday Times takes a look at what happens if your collective sale deal falls through.
If the STB throws out your sale

The onus is on the majority owners - those who have signed off on the sale - to obtain the STB order.

‘If they do their part and get the STB order, they are not in breach of contract,’ said Credo Real Estate’s managing director, Mr Karamjit Singh.

If they cannot get the STB order, they have failed to fulfil their part of the sale agreement with the buyer. The buyer can thus take back his 5 per cent deposit, a sum he had to pay when he inked the deal.

Most sale and purchase agreements have a standard provision that stipulates that if the purchase fails to be completed, the deposit or option money will be forfeited.

The buyer can also ask the majority owners to appeal against the STB decision in the High Court, said Mr Singh.

If they are not satisfied with the High Court decision, they can proceed to the next and last level, the Court of Appeal.

This is where the Airview Towers case went. The Court of Appeal overturned the High Court’s decision to reject the sale, putting the case back in the STB’s court.

In another collective sale, that of Finland Gardens, the buyer and sellers decided to withdraw their case in the High Court and terminate their agreement.

But as the sale had been thrown out by the STB, the developer remained entitled to keep its deposit.

It was a unique situation, and both sides negotiated on the terms, with the developer agreeing to bear most of the costs such as the litigator’s fees and advertisement costs.
If the buyer defaults on the deal

Whether owners can or cannot get back some money depends on which party is the one which has not fulfilled the contract.

Last year, developers were frantically buying sites and pushing to complete them.

But as the market slowed this year, it has so far seen a buyer, Bravo Building Construction, let go of three collective sale deals - Tulip Garden, Makeway View and Pender Court.

As it was the buyer that did not fulfil its part of the agreement to buy Tulip Garden for $516 million, it had to forfeit its 5 per cent deposit of $25.8 million.

The same developer also did not go ahead with the purchase of Makeway View and had to forfeit its option deposit of 1 per cent.

Owners from the 48-unit Pender Court got to keep the buyer’s 10 per cent deposit of $8 million, as well as a $4 million payment for granting a deadline extension. They had negotiated for an additional payment of $4 million to extend the deadline as the buyer had missed the completion deadline.

‘If the buyers default, sellers can sue them if the sale and purchase agreement does not contain a clause that limits the buyer’s liability to forfeiture of the deposit,’ said Mr Henry Heng, a director from law firm Tan Peng Chin LLC.

Or they could sell to another buyer and then go after the original buyer for the losses incurred, if any, again provided the agreement does not have the above clause.

While going after the buyer may sound logical to some, it depends on whether the company has enough funds to pay up, property consultants said.

Few would consider it as developers usually create shell companies for their property purchases, said DTZ executive director, consulting & research, Mrs Ong Choon Fah.
If you have committed to a property purchase

Last year, many owners bought replacement properties way before their collective sales were completed, in an attempt to beat the rising market.

This can get tricky. If the collective sale fails, the owners are basically left to their own devices. The risk is certainly much greater if the owners are dependent on the sale proceeds to finance their new property.

‘It’s a commercial risk, which is why property consultants and lawyers always advise owners not to take the risk,’ said Mr Singh.

All collective sellers have a six-month rent-free period after the completion of their collective sales, during which they can safely source for a property.

While it is uncommon, an owner could try to negotiate a deal with the seller of the new property where it becomes a done deal only if his estate’s collective sale is completed, said Mr Singh. The other party may agree if he is offered a higher price, he said.

DEALS EASING OFF
The market slowdown has resulted in one buyer, Bravo, giving up three collective sale deals - Tulip Garden, Makeway View and Pender Court.

In the case of Tulip Garden, Bravo had to forfeit its 5 per cent deposit of $25.8 million.

It also did not go ahead with the purchase of Makeway View and had to forfeit its option deposit of 1 per cent.

Owners from the 48-unit Pender Court got to keep the buyer’s 10 per cent deposit of $8 million, as well as a $4 million payment for granting a deadline extension.
Among failed collective sales, the buyer of Finland Gardens (above) kept its deposit as the deal had been thrown out by the STB. As for Makeway View (below left) and Tulip Garden, developer Bravo forfeited its deposit in both cases as it did not go ahead with the purchase amid a slowdown in the market. 
 
Source : Straits Times  - 27 April 2008

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Goodbye, Singaore en bloc sales

Goodbye, Singaore en bloc sales 

By Teo Cheng Wee 
Finland Gardens residents (from left) Hua Tinh Van, 69, with one-year-old Samantha Woon; Valerie Chua, 47; Janey Sim, 37; Sim Li-Anne, eight; Micky Sim, 38; and Sumiko Sakamoto, 49, are glad the deal fell through. — ST PHOTO: EDWIN KOO
 
Pender Court. Finland Gardens. Tulip Garden. Makeway View. These were all attempts to sell an estate en bloc which fell through, all within this month.
But even as the en bloc fever cools, not all the affected residents are getting hot under the collar. Many told The Sunday Times that they were disappointed to miss out on a good price, but were happy to stay put.

It was reported last Friday that the sale of Pender Court, off West Coast Highway, had fallen through. Others reported include Finland Gardens in Siglap on Tuesday; Tulip Garden in Holland Road on April 9; and Makeway View in the Newton area on April 1.

Italian expatriate Lucia Omodei, 43, who has lived at Tulip Garden for six years, said: ‘We looked elsewhere in case we had to move out, but we didn’t find anything this ideal. Besides, we would miss our neighbours.’

A fellow resident, music teacher Y.C. Lee, 75, saw the bright side in the ‘consolation hongbao’ he received, a $120,000 payout which was his share of the $25 million deposit that the buyer forfeited.

The unhappy ones are most likely those who had bought another house and now face financing issues.

The Sunday Times spoke to residents in some of the failed en bloc estates to find out how their lives have been affected.
Source : Straits Times  - 27 April 2008

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Mindy Yong

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Singapore HDB flat buyers pay less cash upfront

Singapore HDB flat buyers pay less cash upfront 

Cash over valuation falls as units are more accurately valued to reflect market prices

By Jessica Cheam
 
House-hunting for soon-to-be-married Jolyn Toh used to be a discouraging affair as prices were out of her reach.
But things are looking up for the engineer.

Just six months ago, home-owners in Bukit Batok, where she is looking to buy an HDB flat, used to demand nothing less than $50,000 cash upfront.

In the last month, however, this has dipped to about $20,000 to $30,000. ‘This difference means my fiance and I can now afford a home before our wedding in July,’ said Ms Toh, 25.

New government figures released last Friday will bring cheer to those hunting for their dream Housing Board flat as they reveal that median cash-over-valuation (COV) prices in many popular estates like Marine Parade, Queenstown and Clementi are falling.

COV is the cash that buyers must pay a seller over and above a flat’s market valuation to secure the sale. For example, if a unit is valued at $250,000 and the seller will only part with it for $300,000, the COV will be $50,000.

It cannot be paid for by a bank loan or by money from a Central Provident Fund account.

Market watchers explained that the drop in COV was due largely to valuations of HDB homes rising sharply to reflect more accurately prevailing market prices.

Valuations of flats are made by a panel of HDB-appointed private valuers.

Agency boss Albert Lu of C&H Realty said valuers have started taking into account recent resale transactions, which have enjoyed robust growth, in their valuations.

This has led to the narrowing of the gap between valuations and COV prices, even as home prices continue to rise.

Take, for example, a five-room flat in Bukit Batok. In the fourth quarter of last year, its median price was $430,000, and the median COV was $41,000. Accordingly, valuation was $389,000, that is $430,000 minus $41,000.

In the most recent quarter, the median price went up to $450,000. However, the COV fell to $30,000, which meant that the valuer had valued the flat higher at $420,000.

A lower COV will help newlyweds, especially, get on the housing ladder. They now have to fork out less cash upfront and can take out HDB or bank loans to service the rest of the purchase.

Although HDB prices continued to rise 3.7 per cent in the first quarter this year, housing experts say the market could get a boost in coming months due to lower COVs.

‘With valuations going up, the COV is coming down and this makes it more affordable,’ said Mr Lu.

HDB prices rose 17.4 per cent last year, the highest in a decade. At the peak of last year’s spectacular property bull run - which saw record prices such as $890,000 for an executive flat in Queenstown - home-owners were asking for COV sums of more than $150,000 in some mature estates.

This, in turn, priced many newly-weds out of the resale market, who then turned out in droves to queue for new HDB flats.

In Clementi, for example, the median COV for July to September last year was a sky-high $155,000 for an executive flat. This had dropped to $75,000 in the fourth quarter last year, and is now a more reasonable $40,000 this quarter.

For a very ‘cash sensitive HDB market’, even a small difference in COV makes an impact and could see more people returning to the resale market, said Mr Colin Tan, Chesterton International’s head (research and consultancy).

PropNex chief executive Mohamed Ismail said that another reason for the decrease in COV could be that sellers’ expectations have moderated due to the recent softening of the property sector here, coupled with volatile global markets.

Mr Tan pointed out that HDB prices remained high and are daunting for lower-income families whose incomes have been stagnant. This makes new HDB flats, which are subsidised, the more attractive proposition.

But for couples like teacher Lynne Ng, 26, and her fiance, the dip in COV could not have come at a better time. ‘We were going to rent or live with our parents, but now it’s possible we’ll get a dream home of our own when we get married,’ she said.
Source : Straits Times  - 27 April 2008

Singapore Property - Buy , Sell , Rent , Invest

Mindy Yong

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mindy@mindyyong.com