Singapore Hotel site at Short Street now available

Singapore Hotel site at Short Street now available

By ARTHUR SIM
DEVELOPERS interested in a hotel site in Short Street can apply for it to be put up for tender, after the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) released detailed sale conditions.
 
‘… a boutique hotel development with an ethnically artistic design is deemed suitable here.’
 
- Knight Frank director (research and consultancy) Nicholas Mak 
 
 
 
The 0.12 hectare site is one of two new hotel plots on the reserve list under the second-half 2008 Government Land Sales (GLS) programme.

The site, in the Bras Basah/Bugis district, has a maximum permissible gross floor area of 4,077 sq metres (43,884.4 sq ft) - smaller than others released this year.

Cushman and Wakefield managing director Donald Han believes it will attract smaller developers and new entrants to the market.

The owner of neighbouring Albert Court Hotel may feel compelled to bid, he said.

He reckons that if the site goes up for public tender, bids could range from $350 to $400 psf per plot ratio (psf ppr) - a quantum of $15.4-$17.6 million.

Knight Frank director (research and consultancy) Nicholas Mak also sees bids in this range.

‘Based on planning details and the neighbourhood, a boutique hotel development with an ethnically artistic design is deemed suitable,’ he said.

 
For instance, a developer could put up a Peranakan-style building similar to Albert Court Hotel.

Earlier this month, URA received a committed bid of $51 million or $249.6 psf ppr for a reserve list hotel site at Kallang and Jellicoe roads.

Also this month, URA awarded a hotel site in Balestier Road to HH Properties, which put in the highest bid of $172 psf ppr.

There are now nine hotel development sites on the GLS reserve list.

According to URA, the reserve list for H2 2008 provides for potential supply of 5,050 hotel rooms, including a white site at Outram Road.

Source : Business Times - 27 Aug 2008
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Singapore URA rejects sole bid for Tampines condo site, saying it’s too low

Singapore URA rejects sole bid for Tampines condo site, saying it’s too low

By KALPANA RASHIWALA

FOR the fourth time this year, the government has rejected bids at a state land tender for being too low, amidst weakening property market sentiment and rising construction costs that have forced bidders to clip their land bids.
And what’s interesting is that in three of the four instances, the top or sole bidder was the Midview group, involved in the construction and property businesses as well as in general trading.

The company, controlled by Lim Kim Hong and Lim Huixing, has its office at Midview Building at Bukit Batok Street 23.

Yesterday, Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) turned down the sole bid for a private condominium housing site at Tampines Avenue 1/Avenue 10 as the price offered was too low.

The 99-year leasehold plot, which faces Bedok Reservoir, drew a bid of about $118 per square foot per plot ratio (psf ppr) from Midview unit Boon Keng Development Pte Ltd.

The sole bid was below general market expectations, which ranged from $150 to $230 psf ppr. When the tender for the site closed on Aug 12, most property consultants had already said there was only a slim chance of the site being awarded.

 
 
The three sites where bids were earlier rejected by the state for being too low were the Ten Mile Junction site in Choa Chu Kang (which was to have a residential component), a landed housing plot at Westwood Avenue in Jurong, and a transitional office site at Aljunied Road/Geylang East Avenue 1.

Midview group was the top bidder for the Westwood Avenue plot as well as the sole bidder for the transitional office site.

Analysts have also pointed out that some of these sites were not that attractive to begin with.

The latest Tampines plot that was not awarded, for instance, does not have strong attributes like transportation links or proximity to amenities.

An industry observer also highlighted an element of opportunistic bidding seen, especially on the part of contractors, at recent state tenders.

‘With the current market uncertainty and most developers keeping away from land tenders, some players see a chance to try and get land on the cheap and hopefully reap a windfall. I guess it’s their business strategy: They can manage construction costs better, plus if they can get land at low cost, and even if the property market comes down, say, 30-40 per cent, they would still be OK,’ he said.

The Tampines Avenue 1/10 plot was offered through the confirmed list of the Government Land Sales programme where sites are released according to a pre-stated schedule and the government’s minimum or reserve price is not made known.

Separately, the Housing & Development Board yesterday made available for application a 99-year condo plot at Yishun Ave 2/Yishun Ave 7/Canberra Drive through the reserve list.

The plot will be launched for tender only upon successful application by a developer, with an undertaking to bid at a minimum price that is acceptable to the state.

 
Source : Business Times - 27 Aug 2008
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Malaysia Anwar wins landslide victory in by-election

Malaysia Anwar wins landslide victory in by-election

Ex-DPM returns to Parliament after more than a decade
(PERMATANG PAUH, Malaysia) Malaysian opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim won a landslide victory in a special election yesterday, marking a triumphant return to Parliament more than a decade after he was ignominiously ejected for alleged sodomy.
 
On a roll: Anwar and his wife Wan Azizah after the election win. The opposition leader won 31,195 votes, against the National Front candidate’s 15,524 
The Election Commission announced that Anwar had won 31,195 of the estimated 47,000 votes cast in the election in this semi-rural district in the northern state of Penang that has been his stronghold since 1982. His rival, Arif Shah Omar Shah of the governing National Front coalition, got 15,524 votes. An independent candidate got 92 votes.

Anwar’s victory strengthens his campaign to topple the government and become the next prime minister even though he is facing a new charge of sodomising a male aide. Sodomy, even if consensual, is a crime in Malaysia punishable by up to 20 years in jail.

Anwar was deputy prime minister in the National Front government in 1998 when he was fired and subsequently convicted of sodomising his driver, but that was overturned by the Supreme Court in 2004. He has always maintained that he was framed by his boss, then prime minister Mahathir Mohamad, in a power struggle.

He says that the latest charge is also a conspiracy by Dr Mahathir’s successor, Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, to prevent him from taking down the government. Mr Abdullah denies it.

‘This vote means Malaysians want the truth,’ Anwar, 61, said after voting. ‘It is Anwar versus the entire government.’

In the March 8 general election, Anwar’s three- party opposition alliance won an unprecedented 82 of Parliament’s 222 seats - 30 short of a majority - as well as control of five states. But Anwer could not run because of a ban on holding political office stemming from a corruption conviction linked to the previous sodomy charge. The ban expired in April.

Anwar is married, with six children. His wife, Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, won the Permatang Pauh district in March, but resigned the seat to allow him to contest it. The single seat that Anwar won yesterday will not change the balance of power. But he has vowed to get enough lawmakers from the National Front to defect so he can take down the government by Sept 16.

Domestic Trade Minister Shahrir Samad, a member of the ruling party’s policy-making council, said Anwar’s victory was no surprise, but denied it was a major blow to the government.

‘It was his home ground, so that was always an advantage because he has a lot of support there,’ Mr Shahrir told AP.

‘We expected him to win. This just proves there is nothing wrong with our electoral system. But I still doubt he will be able to pull off his Sept 16 threat.’ - AP

 
Source : Business Times - 27 Aug 2008
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Asean must guard against raising trade barriers: Singapore PM Lee

Asean must guard against raising trade barriers: Singapore PM Lee

Countries open more doors to each other’s doctors and accountants
By LEE U-WEN

(SINGAPORE) South-east Asia must be careful not to resort to protectionist measures as the international trading system goes through a rough patch, warned Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong yesterday.

As he opened the 40th Asean Economic Ministers meeting (AEM), Mr Lee said that the journey to achieve an integrated Asean Economic Community by 2015 would require ‘commitment and tough political decisions’ from all 10 member states. Related link: 

 Click here for the full text of PM Lee’s speech
 
With the AEM barely a day old, already one deal has been cast in stone: the inking of three agreements by the ministers that will allow their nation’s doctors, dentists and accountants to take their skills more freely to work in any Asean country.

 
‘Our purpose is not to create a trade bloc; we are committed to open regionalism and we adopt an inclusive approach.’
 
- PM Lee 
 
 
Asean’s ministers said that the pact, which will open up wider job opportunities for accountants, doctors and dentists, would allow them to work in other Asean countries so long as they have proper qualifications and standards which the countries have agreed to mutually recognise.

Similar schemes are already in place that cover architects, surveyors, engineers and nurses, said the statement. The accords will also ensure that professional standards in an Asean country are maintained, monitored and regulated.

Some feel that Singapore is likely to benefit from such a pact as it is currently experiencing a shortage of accountants and medical professionals.

This year’s AEM is taking place amid a ‘testing period’ for the international trading system, said Mr Lee in his speech.

Following last month’s breakdown of the Doha Round of global trade talks in Geneva, he urged Asean nations to unite and make full use of the work done over the last seven years in order to reach new deals.

 
 
In the pipeline are free-trade agreement (FTA) deals with Australia and New Zealand, both of which are likely to be signed within weeks, said Asean secretary-general Surin Pitsuwan.

The ministers are also trying to conclude FTA talks with India this week. China and South Korea are two more countries that the bloc wants to seal agreements with soon, while discussions with the European Union are underway.

Said Mr Lee: ‘We must also be watchful of any backsliding, and resist the temptation to raise trade barriers or resort to protectionist practices for lack of an overall agreement.’

He added that Singapore, which handed over the chairmanship of Asean to Thailand last month, still believes that a ’strong, rules-based global trading system’ is the best recipe for continued growth and prosperity for both developed and developing economies.

‘Asean should continue to integrate and liberalise our own economies. Our purpose is not to create a trade bloc; we are committed to open regionalism and we adopt an inclusive approach,’ he said.

Asean has set itself the target of integrating itself into an economic community by 2015 to facilitate the movement of goods, services and people.

‘Completing the roadmap to become an AEC will require commitment and tough political decisions. Our respective governments face pressing domestic economic and political pressures from time to time, but we must muster political will to implement the roadmap which we have agreed upon,’ said Mr Lee.

To track each country’s progress in doing its part for integration, Asean has come up with a blueprint scorecard that will be used to update leaders regularly.

Said Mr Lee: ‘To be a credible organisation, we must match words with actions. The scorecard will be a useful tool. It will enable us to monitor our implementation efforts, engage users through a feedback mechanism, and address issues that may cause delays.’

Meanwhile, speaking on the sidelines of the meetings, Asean secretary-general Dr Pitsuwan gave an update on the FTA talks with Australia and New Zealand.

‘I understand it’s only a matter of protocol, a matter of procedure. We are working on one country which has some difficulty in this protocol, but we think that it is within reach,’ he said.

 
Source : Business Times - 27 Aug 2008
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Singapore Temasek warns of lean years as returns dwindle

Singapore Temasek warns of lean years as returns dwindle

It flags stagflation risk; its 7% total shareholder return on portfolio lowest in recent years
By CONRAD TAN

(SINGAPORE) Temasek Holdings has warned of a growing danger that global economic growth could stall as the fallout from the credit crisis spreads around the world, with possible stagflation posing a severe risk for years to come.

Temasek’s own vast portfolio of investments was buffeted by the turmoil that swept financial markets since the start of the crisis last year.

By market value, the total return to Temasek’s sole shareholder - the Finance Ministry - for the year to end-March fell to just 7 per cent, from 27 per cent a year earlier.

Economic profit or wealth added - which Temasek uses internally to gauge its returns above a risk-adjusted benchmark - was a negative $6.3 billion, the first time in five years it fell below the cost-of-capital hurdle. A year earlier, wealth added was $23.4 billion.

By one measure, the market risk of Temasek’s portfolio rose 67 per cent over the year to end-March, reflecting the ’severe stress’ in global financial markets, according to its latest annual report.

 
Group net profit for Temasek for the year to end-March doubled to a record $18.24 billion from a year earlier, boosted by strong operating performance at its portfolio companies and divestment gains from its asset sales.

Under standard accounting rules, the consolidated net profit includes Temasek’s share of profits from companies in which it has a stake of 20 per cent or more, but does not directly reflect its share of the profits or losses of firms in which Temasek has a stake below 20 per cent. Profits from Singapore’s DBS Group, of which Temasek owns 28 per cent, would be included, while profits from the UK’s Standard Chartered Bank, in which Temasek has a 19 per cent stake, would not.

‘The credit crisis is not over - we expect to see further contagion in the real economy in the US, Europe and also Asia over the next 24 months,’ said Temasek chairman S Dhanabalan in the 2008 Temasek Review published yesterday.

The fallout from the credit crisis ‘will continue to dampen the global economy’ for the next two years, he added.

The 7 per cent one-year return to the government - which includes dividends paid by Temasek to the government net of new capital injections - is the lowest since Temasek started publishing its annual report in 2004, when the return was 46 per cent.

Temasek’s portfolio performance over longer periods, however, remains strong, with compounded annual returns of 23 per cent over five years, 9 per cent over 10 years, and 18 per cent since Temasek’s inception in 1974.

But Mr Dhanabalan was cautious on the outlook. ‘We are concerned with the emerging risks of stagflation. This presents huge socio-political as well as economic risks in the next three to five years,’ he said.

Bold policies by regulators in the US had averted a major systemic failure, but ‘the risks of stagflation have become more apparent with the twin bogeys of high oil and food prices’, he added.

Still, ‘there may be opportunities as imbalances are corrected’, although such opportunities may be limited if stagflation - a period of stagnant economic growth coupled with high inflation - does set in, he added.

During the year to end-March, Temasek sold $17 billion worth of assets, including some $12 billion in Asia, ‘as we anticipated a massive structural adjustment’, said Mr Dhanabalan.

In April last year, Temasek also received an injection of new capital from the government, which boosted its portfolio value by $10 billion, net of dividends paid to the government. An undisclosed dividend amount is set yearly by the Temasek board, said Michael Dee, Temasek senior managing director, international, at a media briefing yesterday. Mr Dee, a former investment banker, recently joined Temasek from Morgan Stanley.

 
Source : Business Times - 27 Aug 2008
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Singapore Home prices stable till 2010: Wing Tai

Singapore Home prices stable till 2010: Wing Tai 

It is in no rush to launch Ardmore Park sites despite softening market 

By Fiona Chan, Property Reporter 
  
Units at Anderson 18 are being rented out as redevelopment is on hold.

PROPERTY developer Wing Tai Holdings is in no hurry to launch the two sites it owns in the prestigious Ardmore Park area: the Ardmore Park condominium and Anderson 18.
Wing Tai chairman Cheng Wai Keung said yesterday that although home prices are softening, he expects them to remain mostly stable until at least 2010.

This is because projects that are being completed this year and next were originally sold at relatively low prices in 2005 and 2006, so there is no urgency for buyers of these projects to unload their units.

‘Developers are also quite strong financially, so if they can hold and allow the orderly release of units, I do not see prices dropping drastically,’ he told reporters and analysts at the release of Wing Tai’s full-year results.

Beyond 2010, however, the situation may change. Projects to be completed then were launched at ‘very high prices’ last year, and if the economy does not improve by then, these expensive apartments may flood the market while financially strong developers will probably also weaken, Mr Cheng said.

But he added that while prices have softened, it is not because Singapore’s economic fundamentals have worsened but rather because ‘traders’, or speculators, have left the market. ‘I maintain that fundamentals are sound,’ he said.

In fact, Mr Cheng said he is prepared to hold out for prices to reach $4,000 per sq ft (psf) again at Ardmore Park. ‘Even at the peak, when they were talking about $4,000 psf, I still think that was relatively cheap, compared to values in the world and in Singapore.’

He added that Wing Tai owns two of the three sites to be launched in the Ardmore Park area. SC Global has the third, The Ardmore. ‘We are the ones who will set the price; if we never lower prices, how can it lose value?’

For now, Wing Tai has already locked in construction costs for Ardmore Park and is renting out the units in Anderson 18 rather than tearing down the building for redevelopment.

In the meantime, the developer may launch some of the other sites in its land bank this year or next, said Wing Tai’s chief operating officer Tan Hwee Bin.

Belle Vue Residences in Oxley Walk will be launch-ready next month, while a 99-year leasehold site in Alexandra Road near the Redhill MRT Station will obtain all the necessary approvals by the year end.

Ms Tan said the group will position the Alexandra Road condo as a mid-tier project minutes away from Orchard Road, and may bring to it some of the features it has used in its high-end Draycott8 development.

For the past year, slower home sales have taken their toll on the performance of the property and retail group.

Wing Tai’s fourth-quarter net profit fell 60 per cent to $96.3 million, dragging down full-year net profit 40 per cent to $229.4 million. Revenue more than halved both in the fourth quarter, to $107.3 million, and in the full year, to $428.2 million.

Earnings per share dropped to 30.11 cents for the year to June 30, from 53.12 cents the previous year. Net asset value per share slipped to $2.03 as at June 30, from $2.07 a year ago.

Wing Tai is proposing a dividend of six cents per share for the year, comprising a first and final dividend of three cents and a special dividend of three cents.
Source : Straits Times - 27 Aug 2008
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Lease buy-back kicks off next year - Singapore

Lease buy-back kicks off next year  - Singapore

By Lee Siew Hua 
  
Ms Grace Fu, Senior Minister of State for National Development

FROM January next year, elderly home-
owners of small flats will receive $550 each month if they join a new plan to sell part of their lease back to the Housing Board.

MONETISING ASSETS
‘This is really a good solution to cater to a group of the elderly who probably do not have as many options as those who are staying in the bigger flats.’
Ms Grace Fu, Senior Minister of State for National Development, on the new plan allowing the elderly to sell part of their lease back to the Housing Board
The proceeds from this sale will go to a Central Provident Fund Life annuity, which gives them a stream of monthly payouts for retirement even as they continue to stay comfortably in their homes.

This plan is open to people who are at least 62 years old.

Senior Minister of State for National Development Grace Fu yesterday gave Parliament an update of the scheme, first announced last August by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong.

Said Ms Fu: ‘This is really a good solution to cater to a group of the elderly who probably do not have as many options as those who are staying in the bigger flats.’

Their two- to three-room flats are ’sizeable assets which they can monetise’ by turning to the lease buy-back scheme, she added, replying to Madam Cynthia Phua (Aljunied GRC) and Mr Baey Yam Keng (Tanjong Pagar GRC).

She projected that 25,000 households can sign up for it. This represents 70 per cent of the elderly who own two- and three-room flats.

She addressed two common questions.

First, what happens if the flat owner outlives the lease? ‘No elderly will be left homeless,’ she assured the House.

One option is to buy a lease extension. But not all can afford this, so the HDB will assess the housing options of each family and be ’sensitive’ to their financial health, she said.

Next, what happens if an elderly person dies prematurely? In this case, his estate will receive a ‘pro-rated refund on the residual lease’, Ms Fu said.

For the elderly, studio flats are another option and the Government is building more of these, she noted in her reply to Madam Phua.

Ms Fu said: ‘In many of the new estates we are building, two-room flats are available.

‘In fact, they are not as well subscribed as the bigger flats so once the flats are ready, they are available straightaway.’
Source : Straits Times - 27 Aug 2008
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Singapore New HDB flats for sale, rent in West

Singapore New HDB flats for sale, rent in West 

Coming up in Bukit Panjang: 474 homes for sale, 300 for rent 

By Jessica Cheam 
  
Bookings for Senja Green are now open. Models of the development can be viewed at the HDB Hub. — PHOTO: HOUSING BOARD

HOMEBUYERS are being offered a further 474 new flats to choose from, with the launch of a new Housing Board project in Bukit Panjang yesterday.
Also, 300 units in two new rental blocks will be built nearby, for the first time under the same contract as the flats being offered for sale.
HDB’s latest move to ramp up the building of new flats and rental homes comes after demand soared for both types of housing in the past year.

The new project, called Senja Green, offers two- to four-room units - with prices ranging from $82,000 to $270,000 each.

The flats, under HDB’s build-to-order scheme, will only be built if a certain level of demand is reached.

HDB’s latest development brings the number of new flats launched for sale this year to 5,000. It plans to launch 8,400 units by the end of the year.

As for rental flats, HDB said it expects to increase its current stock from 42,800 to 49,860 by 2011.

The sharp hike in demand for rental flats was flagged by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong in his recent National Day Rally speech as a worrying trend.

To prevent abuse of the rental scheme, National Development Minister Mah Bow Tan announced stricter rules last Saturday, effective immediately, which will see Singaporeans in desperate need of a home given priority for such flats.

Each month, about 131 tenants give up their flats and 382 people join the queue.

In June, there were 4,387 applicants on the waiting list. They wait, on average, 18 months for a one-room rental flat and nine months for a two-room flat.

HDB said yesterday that the rental flats were included in the same building contract ‘for greater economies of scale, amid rising construction costs’.

The launch of Senja Green follows another HDB project, Segar Meadows, in Bukit Panjang town, which was launched last November.

As at 5pm yesterday, 177 applications had been lodged for the new units.

Senja Green is located in Woodlands Road and is bounded by Senja Way and Senja Road. The rental blocks are separate from Senja Green but will also sit on Woodlands Road.

The new flats are close to the Ten Mile Junction shopping mall and Senja LRT Station as well as West View Primary School and West Spring Secondary School.

Residents can also look forward to the Downtown Line 2 in Bukit Panjang, which will be ready in about 2015, HDB said.

The 96 two-room flats available at Senja Green will come with a floor area of 47 sq m each. They will be priced between $82,000 and $106,000 each.

The 94 three-room flats will have a floor area of 67 sq m each and cost $138,000 to $170,000. There are also 284 four-room flats of 93 sq m in size, which will go for $211,000 to $270,000 each.

Buyers can opt for ceramic floor tiles and internal timber doors to be installed in their flats, at an additional cost.

Interested buyers can apply online at HDB’s website www.hdb.gov.sg from now until Sept 8.

The selection exercise will start from November. Models of the estates are on display at the HDB Hub Habitat Forum in Toa Payoh until the closing date.

Source : Straits Times - 27 Aug 2008

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Singapore New ezlink card that does it all

Singapore New ezlink card that does it all 

Pay for meals, library fines, ERP charges 

By Christopher Tan, Senior Correspondent 
  
A NEW ‘park and ride and shop’ card will soon be available as a smartcard that is both a public transport fare card and an alternative to the CashCard.
Users could eventually have the pick of four card vendors, which could mean that the cards would cost less.

THE Land Transport Authority (LTA) will test the new ez-link card in a ‘live’ trial involving 10,000 volunteers.
The authority said it has identified commuters who typically are heavy users. It is aiming to clock one million transactions over a two-month period between Aug 29 and Oct 28.
Such a sample size is required for LTA to identify and rectify any glitches that might crop up.
Trial participants who clock 100 trips in the trial will each get a $20 public transport voucher.
Although the new ez-link card has other functions such as electronic road-pricing (ERP) payment and retail transactions, these will not be tested during the trial.
The LTA explained that it had already conducted vigorous tests on the card’s ERP application.
If all goes well with the transit trial, the new ez-link card will be released for sale by the end of this year or early next year.
The LTA expects the current six-year-old ez-link card to be phased out 12 to 18 months after the new card is released.
There are about 10 million valid ez-link cards in circulation today.
CHRISTOPHER TAN

 
The Land Transport Authority (LTA) yesterday unveiled its replacement to the six-year-old ez-link card. Besides bus and train rides, cardholders would be able to use the new card to pay for Electronic Road Pricing (ERP) charges, cabs and other non-transport applications, like settling library fines or restaurant bills.

LTA deputy chief executive Lim Bok Ngam said the authority had invested some $100 million to roll out the new card. The sum includes development costs, modifying the 22,000 card readers on buses and at train stations, manufacturing costs and other related expenses.

The new card will undergo a final two-month public trial before it is ready for sale.

It is the first here to comply with Singapore’s new e-purse standard, which paves the way for more parties to enter the fray with multi-purpose cards.

But for a start, the LTA will limit the number to four.

Nets, the CashCard company formed by local banks 23 years ago, is widely expected to be the next to launch a card.

Nets assistant chief executive Suman Balani said yesterday that her company will enter the market with its CashCard in the fourth quarter of next year.

This would allow it to partake of the $1.5 billion-a-year transit market, currently monopolised by LTA-owned EZ Link Pte Ltd.

LTA’s Mr Lim said: ‘We currently have two card platforms in Singapore. One for public transport and another for cars and other commercial transactions. With the new ez-link card, you can make all transactions with just one card.’

The move will lead to competition and more choice for consumers, Mr Lim said.

One benefit is that the price of cards should fall. The current ez-link card costs $15 to buy, which includes a card cost of $5 and a deposit of $3, with $7 left for fares.

Mr Lim said the new ez-link card could cost $4 or less. And it will not need a deposit.

In fact, observers reckon that some issuers might supply the card for free - like credit cards - to secure market share.

Mr Lim said that card issuers will operate in ‘a competitive environment’ and that companies could build in loyalty programmes to attract and retain customers.

Besides Nets, the other two card issuers could well be credit-card companies, he said. If one of them comes out with a card that complies with the new e-purse standard, it could even launch a fare card that has a credit facility instead of stored value.

With such a card, users need not worry about not having enough funds on tap.

Of the six major banks The Straits Times contacted yesterday, only Maybank responded to say it is considering such a card.

As for motorists, they can look forward to using the new ez-link card for ERP payments from early next year, when a new-generation in-vehicle unit is installed in new cars.

Owners of existing vehicles can have the new reader installed for $150, excluding goods and services tax.

Meanwhile, motorists will soon be able to pay for ERP charges with their credit cards. The Straits Times understands the LTA has roped in DBS Bank to be a ‘technology provider’ in this plan, outlined in the recently released Public Transport Masterplan.

With it, drivers need not worry about not having enough funds in their CashCard. In fact, they need not have a CashCard in the vehicle at all.

They will instead be billed along with their other monthly credit-card charges.

The scheme will not be restricted to DBS cardholders.

The LTA said it would release details ‘very soon’.

DBS did not wish to comment.

Source : Straits Times - 27 Aug 2008

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$10b cash boost from Singapore Finance Ministry

$10b cash boost from Singapore Finance Ministry 

TEMASEK Holdings’ coffers have been boosted by a $10 billion capital injection from the Ministry of Finance (MOF) - the largest single cash inflow since the investment fund began in 1974.
The funds inflow helped boost Temasek’s portfolio to $185 billion as at March 31.

An MOF spokesman told The Straits Times that ‘the capital injections are part of Government’s reserves, which include dividends received from Temasek and are protected as financial reserves under the Constitution of Singapore’.

Temasek’s senior managing director (international), Mr Michael Dee, said the injection was made in April last year.

Mr Dee told a media briefing on the investment firm’s financial results yesterday that the $10 billion injection was not meant for any specific investment but went into the investment fund kitty.

Mr Dee said: ‘When we raise capital, from whatever source, it’s not geared to any particular investment…It simply becomes part of the investment pool.’

Temasek was set up in 1974 with an initial portfolio of $354 million.

As chairman S. Dhanabalan said in a speech about the role of sovereign wealth funds last week, the MOF has ‘from time-to-time made additional injections into Temasek. Since inception, we have received a total injection of a little less than $30 billion in assets and cash’.

This number includes the net $10 billion inflow last year. Previous capital injections are believed to have been mostly in the form of assets like stakes in SingTel, PSA and SingPower rather than cash.

MOF said yesterday that while Temasek has been growing organically, additional capital, including cash, has been injected into Temasek, as part of the Government’s asset allocation.

‘The capital injections as part of this overall allocation of reserves does not entail any Government influence over individual deals.’

It added that Temasek has remained a net contributor of funds to the Government over the years.

In his speech, Mr Dhanabalan had said that Temasek could not be compared to a fund manager as it owns the assets, adding that ‘Temasek is not a channel to invest foreign exchange reserves on behalf of the Singapore Government’.

Temasek did not reveal the dividend yield the Finance Ministry enjoys, but historically it has been about 7 per cent.
LEE SU SHYAN

 
Source : Straits Times - 27 Aug 2008

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