IDA investing S$20m to help IT grads and professionals

IDA investing S$20m to help IT grads and professionals

By Valarie Tan, Channel NewsAsia | Posted: 16 June 2009 1116 hrs

People checking out the latest model of 3G mobile phones at a PC show in Singapore. (file pic)

SINGAPORE: The Infocomm Development Authority (IDA) is investing S$20 million to help IT graduates and professionals stay employed during the current recession.

The money will be spent on two new programmes – iTAP (Infocomm Training and Attachment Programme) and iLEAD (Infocomm Leadership and Development Programme) – which are expected to benefit 1,000 people over the next two years.

iTAP offers attachment opportunities for fresh IT graduates and professionals at MNCs, local companies and start-ups.

Under iLEAD, IDA will work with the infocomm industry to prepare a pool of professionals for new growth areas through internships and specialised courses.

Acting Minister for Communications and the Arts Lui Tuck Yew gave these details at the official opening of Infocomm Media Business Exchange (imbX) 2009 on Tuesday morning.

He also announced that the Wireless@SG programme, which was launched in 2006, to complement connectivity in the home and office, will be enhanced and extended for another four years till March 2013.

The enhancements include improvements to access speeds of up to 1 Mbps, using a new seamless log-in process.

More services over Wireless@SG, such as cashless payments, location-based and facility-monitoring services, will also be introduced.

- CNA/so

Source : Channel NewsAsia - 17 June 2009

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S’pore could see first en bloc sale in a year by year-end

S’pore could see first en bloc sale in a year by year-end

By Ng Baoying,

SINGAPORE : Singapore has seen a drought of en bloc sales lasting more than a year. But analysts said that could change by the end of this year.

They believe that with developers experiencing lower inventories, and government land sales still depressed, en bloc sales could present a more attractive option.

More than 5,500 private homes have been sold in the primary market this year - already more than the total amount sold in 2008.

Should the momentum persist, analysts project that more than 10,000 units will be sold this year, compared to the market peak of 14,811 units sold in 2007.

Analysts said this has helped draw down developers’ inventories.

Christina Sim, director, Investment, Cushman & Wakefield, said: “Once I think a developer sells more than 50 per cent of the development, they are basically on the home stretch already. So whatever they make on the rest of the units is basically profits. I think in terms of this, their cash flow position is a lot better.”

Karamjit Singh, managing director, Credo Real Estate, said: “Fundamentally, en blocs take place when the market is on an uptrend, when there is enough confidence in the market, and developers wish to step up their acquisitions or redevelopment sites.

“At this stage, the market seems to be turning its corner. There seems to be a resurgence, or confidence back in the market. Quite a few developers have begun to clear substantial inventories to a point where they are very confident in the market tomorrow and day after. And (they) are beginning to buy land today, or at least making enquiries about what is available to buy.”

Site sales were also at a significantly low level last year.

Mr Singh said: “Developers refrain from buying any redevelopment sites, whether from government, en bloc, private market. That market began to move early this year with few developers acquiring from one another and from individual sellers. That momentum is slowly gaining and it is quite strong at this stage.”

And supply isn’t as forthcoming as before.

Mr Singh said: “This is likely to lead to price rises in redevelopment sites, which is the basic raw material for developer to buy so as to be able to do business. As land prices rise, it would lead to a situation where en blocs become viable once again. We are helping quite a number of our en bloc clients re-evaluate the potential of their projects. And we believe that towards the end of this year or early next year, quite a number will materialise once again.”

So developers are likely to look to collective sale sites. Credo is handling about five developments which are restarting, or planning a collective sale. It is also currently marketing some developments, including Laguna Park. Cushman & Wakefield is currently marketing Meyer Place.

Valuations for that project were done during the peak in 2007. But it has since come down almost 30 per cent.

Ms Sim said: “Land value for Meyer Place was actually set at the peak in 2007, and those days, East Coast high-end properties were going at about S$1,800 per square foot up to S$2,200 per square foot. So those were the prices that were set. However, the good thing is that we are maybe about 30 or 20 per cent short of this level. Hopefully, the market will recover by the third, fourth quarter.”

She also said: “I expect they would have to scale down, and a few whom I have spoken to have already said that in the event that a lesser offer comes in, lesser than what the reserve price was, there is always a good chance that (they) can call for an AGM and get the 80 per cent consensus to sign again, and agree to sell at a lower price than the reserve price.”

Owners were previously looking for a premium of about 50 per cent. But Cushman & Wakefield said 30 per cent now will be a very good deal.

Overall, analysts said projects that stand a higher chance of being sold en bloc are smaller ones, in specific locations.

Mr Singh said: “They seem to favour suburban and mid market. Prime, I am sure quite a number of them will be interested in very high-end.”

Ms Sim said: “Well located smaller plots in good residential areas, Meyer Road, Bukit Timah. They will all still have that kind of demand. I think the plots that are maybe below the S$100 million mark, they are still quite affordable by small, medium-sized developers.”

She is hoping for at least one en bloc sale this year, to get the ball rolling.

Credo, on the other hand, is more optimistic and expects more than 10 sales by year-end.

But not all agree with this view. Real estate company ERA Asia Pacific said developers should have banked enough land over the past three years.

Eugene Lim, associate director, ERA Asia Pacific, said: “A lot have not been launched yet. What’s launched now are those bought even earlier. We expect the en bloc scene to probably be low key for now.”

Grace Ng, deputy managing director, Agency and Business Services, Colliers International, said; “They are watching the market carefully. A lot of developers have been keeping en bloc sites and renting properties to wait for market to recover. I think they will tread grounds carefully.”

Today, the gestation period from planning to actual marketing of the site takes at least six months, and can stretch to two years.

That is because of new legislation to ensure en bloc sales processes are conducted transparently.

Previously, getting to the marketing phase could take as little as three months.

A resident in Laguna Park said they were looking for a premium of up to 80 per cent when the idea was mooted in the second half of 2007.

And while she is willing to consider a slightly lower price, she added that a sale is not necessarily urgent.

She said: “If it does not happen, I suppose we will wait for another opportunity. Because you know you can get the 80 per cent, there will always be a second time.” - CNA/ms

Source : Channel NewsAsia - 17 June 2009

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Developers rush to catch buying wave

Developers rush to catch buying wave

Push factors: Concerns that interest will fizzle out, Hungry Ghost month

By Joyce Teo

Allgreen held a special preview for its 152-unit One Devonshire last week. Other developers are rushing to launch projects in the light of good sales in May. — PHOTO: ALLGREEN PROPERTIES

HOME hunters can expect a wider choice as property developers look to bring forward project launches in a bid to ride a strong wave of home-buying.

They have been encouraged by a stunning surge in private home sales; figures this week show May sales at 1,668 units - the highest level since August 2007.

Sentiment has improved significantly in recent months, in line with stock market rises, while the sale prices of new homes appear to have crept up from the lows they sank to earlier this year.

But there are increasing concerns this buying wave may not be sustainable. Some analysts argue that the pace of the upswing is too fast and too furious, given that rents are falling amid the weak economy and that a plentiful supply of new homes is coming onstream.

And with the stock market taking a breather, there are worries this will hurt demand. Consultants say some buyers had bought property with the money they made from stocks.

Also, the heat has been confined mostly to certain property launches. HSR Property Group executive director Eric Cheng said the action in the resale market is largely in mass market properties.

Given this, developers with launch- ready projects are likely to be keen to get sales under way quickly. Apart from rushing to get sales permits in order to catch the buying wave, developers would also want to launch before the Hungry Ghost month, said Mr Cheng.

Hungry Ghost month - the 7th month of the lunar calendar - starts on Aug 20 this year. Superstitious buyers may not want to buy a home during this period.

This weekend, SingBuilders will be launching 26-unit Spring @ Langsat near the Eunos MRT station at an average price of $820 psf. A preview last month saw nine units sold at prices ranging from $822 psf to $1,010 psf.

Propnex, which is marketing the project, said the launch decision was made just last week. ‘Market sentiment is good. This is the best time in eight months to launch,’ said its chief executive Mohamed Ismail.

This weekend will also see the launch of the freehold Parc Seabreeze in Marine Parade. Agents have advertised it at prices of $1,200 psf to $1,400 psf.

Far East Organization is also expected to launch the freehold 280-unit Vista Residences in Jalan Datoh soon.

A classified ad gives the special preview date as June 24 and the price at $980 to $1,200 psf. It is near The Arte - launched at $880 psf in March and sold at a median price of $933 psf in May.

Soft marketing has started for the the 437-unit Waterfront Key project in Bedok Reservoir, the 388-unit Oasis@Elias in Pasir Ris and Frasers Centrepoint Homes’ 330-unit leasehold project near the Woodleigh MRT station.

Waterfront Key is the second of four condos to be built by Far East and Frasers Centrepoint on the former Waterfront View estate site. The first, Waterfront Waves, was relaunched in the first quarter at a reduced average price of $600 psf, down from $800 psf early last year.

To capitalise on the better mood, Wing Tai recently soft launched Belle Vue Residences at Oxley Walk while Allgreen Properties started a special preview for the freehold 152-unit One Devonshire near Killiney Road last week.

DMG Research said in a report yesterday that it expects the sales momentum to persist for the next six to nine months.

Already, the strong sales momentum has reignited interest among developers in buying sites. DTZ Debenham Tie Leung (SEA) yesterday put up two sites for tender - the first two official distressed sales sites - to take advantage of the improved sentiment.

‘There’s been a trending up of take-up rate so this is a window of opportunity for developers to launch their projects,’ said its senior director for investment advisory services Shuan Poh.

DTZ was appointed by the receiver and manager of Consult Asia to sell the two sites. One is at the corner of Changi Road and Still Road and the other in Balestier Road. ‘There are developers who sold their projects very well recently and are eagerly looking for more mass and mid-market sites to launch or to invest in. If they want to rush the Changi site, they can take as little as three to four months to get everything ready for launch,’ said Mr Poh.

Coming up

One Devonshire

Where: Killiney Road, near Somerset MRT station

Developer: Allgreen Properties

Spring@Langsat

Where: Langsat Road, near Eunos MRT station

Developer: SingBuilders

Parc Seabreeze

Where: Marine Parade Road

Developer: Tiong Aik

Vista Residences

Where: Jalan Datoh (Balestier)

Developer: Far East Organization

Source : Straits Times - 17 June 2009

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Hiring at both IRs moves into high gear

Hiring at both IRs moves into high gear

People offered casino jobs must be licensed individually by regulator

By Tessa Wong

NUS business administration graduate Charles Chia and Nafa dance graduate Joline Ng are taking up casino positions at Marina Bay Sands. — ST PHOTO: DESMOND FOO

EVEN as the Marina Bay hotel tower blocks and Sentosa roller-coaster tracks take shape, the human resources departments of the two integrated resorts have swung into high gear.

The two attractions need a total of 20,000 employees but the number of applications received is several times that.

Marina Bay Sands (MBS) has received ‘tens of thousands’, and Resorts World at Sentosa (RWS), ‘more than 50,000′.

MBS said yesterday that so far, it has taken in 200 people in corporate, hotel operations, food and beverage and other areas, and will offer casino positions to over 1,000 workers this week.

The latest hires are all Singaporeans, with eight in 10 between 20 and 40 years old. Nearly two-thirds are men. MBS mounted an aggressive recruitment drive, roping in NTUC’s skills-based institute e2i to screen the applications.

Those among the 1,000 who accept the job offer will need to be individually licensed by the Casino Regulatory Authority. After that, they will be put through a three-month in-house training course to turn them into dealers, dealer inspectors and pit supervisors.

Among those offered casino positions are Mr Charles Chia, 26, and Ms Joline Ng, 21. Mr Chia had secured a degree in business administration from the National University of Singapore (NUS) and Ms Ng has a diploma in dance from the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts (Nafa), but the recruitment ads for MBS made them consider careers with it.

Ms Ng said yesterday: ‘It’s a blooming industry, and I’d like being a dealer as I’d get to interact directly with customers. It’s more than just providing service - it’s also entertainment.’

About 3,500 casino positions are still available at MBS, including those in areas such as casino finance, player development and surveillance.

Other vacancies in non-gaming departments such as security and hotel operations are also still available.

Suitable candidates will be identified for these positions in the coming weeks and months as the resort builds up its ‘pioneer team’, said MBS president Nigel Roberts. Construction of the resort is expected to be completed by year’s end. Interested parties may apply for the remaining jobs at http://careers.marinabaysands.com.

An MBS spokesman, explaining its ‘Singaporeans first’ hiring philosophy, said: ‘We will turn to an expatriate candidate only if the skill sets cannot be found in local applicants.’

Over at RWS, 600 workers have so far been hired across all divisions. Eight in 10 are Singaporeans. Of the 600, 200 are croupiers, but still more are needed. All in, the casino will need over 3,000 gaming employees.

The human resources team will have its pick from a big pool - a third of the 50,000 job applications so far received have been for gaming jobs.

Its spokesman said those offered such positions will have licenses applied for them. They will also be trained for at least four months, at the end of which they will earn a Workforce Skills Qualification certificate in casino gaming. The first batch will be trained from August.

Recruitment will ramp up in the coming months as the resort is on target to open early next year.

Source : Straits Times - 17 June 2009

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Stoking Singapore’s next wave of media innovations

Stoking Singapore’s next wave of media innovations

FutureTV, other new media initiatives unveiled at tech- trade show imbX

By ONG BOON KIAT

NEED to rush out of the cinema halfway through an exciting movie to attend to an urgent call? No matter, simply continue to watch it later on your mobile phone from where you left it off. You can even finish the movie on your TV set when you reach home.

Mr Lui: Industry players should participate in calls to shape the future of TV
Such new-fangled media applications could be spawned from FutureTV, an initiative by the Media Development Authority (MDA) under the umbrella of Singapore’s new national media plan, dubbed the Singapore Media Fusion Plan (SMFP).

At the opening of the mega Infocomm Media Business Exchange (imbX) tradeshow yesterday, Acting Minister for Information, Communications and the Arts Lui Tuck Yew unveiled FutureTV and a slew of other new media initiatives set to help kickstart Singapore’s next wave of innovation in the media sector. Speaking to a gathering of local and foreign industry professionals, Mr Lui said the new blueprint will help Singapore take its next steps to become a world-class media hotbed.

‘It aims to strengthen the media ecosystem; fuel the creation of innovative content and services with global appeal; and develop and attract a critical mass of world-class talents to support a thriving industry.’

Spearheading FutureTV is a group of local media firms that include heavyweights such as Media-Corp, StarHub and SingTel.

They are joined by multinational corporations such as Motorola and Microsoft, and will be supported by MDA as they pursue ideas and collaborations to serve up a rich media feast for Singapore viewers in the years to come, that goes beyond the traditional TV screen.

To kickstart the scheme, MDA and its partners are now making calls to the industry for proposals.

‘I strongly encourage industry players to participate in these calls to shape the future of TV not just for Singapore, but for the world,’ Mr Lui said.

FutureTV will be joined by other initiatives announced by the minister yesterday. They include a broadcast innovation partnership with SingTel, media talent development schemes and a business-to-business collaboration deal between Singapore and Sweden’s Gothenburg city.

To boost Singapore’s distribution capabilities, MDA and SingTel have joined hands on a deal that will see SingTel’s newly set up Broadcast Innovation Centre (BIC) at SingTel’s satellite facilities in Bukit Timah linked to Singapore’s ambitious 19 ha media industry park Mediapolis@one-north in a high-speed network hook-up.

Mr Lui said this partnership will up the appeal of Singapore as a media development and distribution hotbed.

First mentioned by MDA officials in Cannes in May, the SMFP was officially flagged off yesterday. This masterplan will be able to tap on $230 million of new funds over five years, or 40 per cent more than the budget for MDA’s previous Media 21 blueprint over the same five-year period.

This is on top of the $500 million which the government already committed to interactive digital media research and development.

In a separate briefing on Monday before the imbX opening, MDA CEO Christopher Chia said the SMFP has three key prongs.

They are to provide the best environment for media business; to leverage research and development to help the media sector exploit the digital media value chain; and to foster the connection of Singapore to the world to enhance the international appeal of Singapore-made content, applications and services.

The SMFP is a response to the altered global landscape, he said.

Source : Business Times - 17 June 2009

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Federal Reserve sees weak growth ahead, but mulls exit

Federal Reserve sees weak growth ahead, but mulls exit

Officials say worries that a deflationary spiral could take hold have eased

(WASHINGTON) The US economy looks poised for a return to weak growth in the second half of the year and the Federal Reserve is giving careful thought to how to pull back its support when the time is right, Fed officials said on Monday.

Prudent: The Fed will have to time carefully any decision to begin withdrawing the large volume of money it has pumped into the financial system
Conditions in financial markets, while still not normal, are improving and worries that a dangerous deflationary spiral could take hold have eased, the officials said.

Against that backdrop, the US central bank will have to time carefully any decision to begin withdrawing the extraordinary volume of money it has pumped into the financial system or to raise interest rates, they said.

‘The risk coming out of September-October was that we get into this deflationary psychology,’ St Louis Federal Reserve Bank president James Bullard said in an interview on CNBC. ‘I think that’s abating some.’

If there are no more financial shocks, the US economy could register a quarter of positive growth as soon as the July-September period, said Mr Bullard, who is not currently a voter on the Fed’s policy-setting panel. ‘The third quarter, hopefully, it’ll turn around,’ he said.

The Fed whittled overnight interest rates to near zero in December and has thrown more than US$1 trillion into financial markets to revive lending and pull the economy out of the deep recession that began in December 2007.

Fed officials have committed to keeping interest rates low for an extended period to get the economy going again and to nurture a recovery.

With rates near zero, other Fed actions, such as a commitment to buy up to US$1.45 trillion in housing- related debt and US$300 billion in longer-term US government debt, have taken on greater significance in influencing lending and spending.

The central bank’s policy-setting panel meets next week and financial markets will watch carefully for an indication of whether officials plan to expand or extend their purchases of longer-term Treasury securities.

The Fed officials speaking on Monday did not directly address that topic, or comment on how a sharp spike in interest rates on longer-term US government debt would shape their decision-making at the June 23-24 meeting.

Yields on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note hit an eight-month high of 4 per cent last week, stirring worry that higher borrowing costs could chill any budding economic recovery. However, yields fell on Monday as a stockmarket sell-off drove investors to the safe harbour of bonds.

Mr Bullard said higher long-term rates indicate both inflation concerns and greater appetite for riskier assets. ‘We’ve got some expected inflation component in there but you’ve also got some improvements in the real economy in there,’ he said.

Offering a different view, Dallas Fed president Richard Fisher, also a nonvoter, said in an interview with Bloomberg the recent rise in yields likely reflected concerns over the surge in borrowing needed to fund a record US budget gap.

In a speech to business executives, Chicago Fed president Charles Evans said the Fed would have to start reversing its array of nonstandard monetary policies once there are signs of robust, sustainable growth and stability in financial markets.

Mr Evans said that before that time comes some parts of the economy would likely exhibit further weakness, but that should not be seen as a sign the Fed’s policies are not working.

‘I expect to see further deterioration in some areas, notably job market conditions, before our policies gain full traction,’ he told business executives.

Mr Evans, a voting member of the Fed’s policy panel, said some of the central bank’s programmes, especially those that provide back-up for short-term loans, will shrink naturally as market conditions improve.

But he also said a ’significant portion’ of the Fed’s balance sheet will likely not do so, which will force the central bank to develop what is likely to be a multi- pronged exit strategy.

Fed governor Daniel Tarullo did not address the outlook for monetary policy or the economy in a speech on regulation. — Reuters

Source : Business Times - 17 June 2009

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2,000 buildings to be fibre-ready by Sept

2,000 buildings to be fibre-ready by Sept

(SINGAPORE) Fifty-seven thousand homes and offices will be the first to usher in the era of ultra-high- speed connectivity in September under Singapore’s ambitious plan to put in place its new ultra-fast broadband backbone.

These residential and commercial premises are in the initial batch of 2,000 buildings that will be equipped with new fibre-optic links under OpenNet’s three-year deployment plan. The bulk of the units are in Macpherson, Braddell, Jurong, Geylang, Eunos and the Middle Road vicinity.

The OpenNet consortium led by Canadian-based Axia Netmedia and incorporating three other members - Singapore Telecom, Singapore Press Holdings and Singapore Power unit SP Telecom - clinched the Infocomm Development Authority (IDA)’s massive tender to build the new information superhighway last September.

The contract came with a $750 million government subsidy and requires OpenNet to extend high-speed fibre-optic pipes to every part of the island by 2013.

According to OpenNet chief executive Tan Kah-Rhu, the company will begin installation in July and expects to have completed 5 per cent of the mammoth project two months later.

‘The coverage of the (fibre-optic) platform will be pervasive, with 60 per cent of households and buildings fibred by the end of next year and 95 per cent fibre-to-the-home and fibre-to-the-building coverage by 2012,’ Ms Tan told reporters yesterday on the sidelines of the imbX technology trade show.

The new broadband network will even be extended beyond the Singapore mainland to Sentosa and Jurong Island when fully completed, added OpenNet’s project and operations director Tiong Onn Seng.

Home and building owners will be able to get the new fibre-optic access points installed at their premises free if they take up OpenNet’s initial offer.

The company will start sending out letters next month to inform the public of its installation schedule, but residential users can also check their fibre deployment time-frame and sign up online at the firm’s website (www.opennet.com. sg).

If apartment owners miss the first wave, they will have to fork out $220 to get a fibre-optic connection, while those living in landed property will have to pay $450.

Once fibre-ready, Singaporeans will be able to subscribe to new bandwidth-intensive services such as high-speed Internet packages that will allow a full-length movie to be downloaded in seconds instead of hours. These offerings are expected to make their debut over the coming years, in line with the growing coverage of OpenNet’s fibre-optic network.

While a project of this scale would typically entail major civil works, OpenNet’s Mr Tiong said there would be ‘no excavation’ of roads this time around.

This is because the company will tap on SingTel’s existing assets such as ducts and manholes to accelerate its roll-out.

In return, SingTel could be compensated to the tune of almost $1 billion for surrendering the bulk of its Internet infrastructure over the next five years.

Source : Business Times - 17 June 2009

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Free wireless surfing for another 4 years

Free wireless surfing for another 4 years

Access speeds will be doubled to one Mbps, more services rolled out
By WINSTON CHAI

(SINGAPORE) A wireless Internet service which allows Singaporeans to surf for free within the city area and major town centres will not only be extended for another four years but will also be given a major speed boost.
All wired up: The free wireless Internet service has attracted 1.3 million subscribers 
The government-backed Wireless@SG service will now end in March 2013 and access speeds will also be doubled to one Mbps (megabit per second), according to Acting Minister for Information, Communication and the Arts Lui Tuck Yew.

‘IDA (Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore) will also be rolling out more services over Wireless@SG, such as cashless payments, location-based and facility-monitoring services,’ he said in his keynote address at the opening of the annual imbX technology tradeshow.

Launched in 2006, the current free 512 Kbps (kilobits per second) has attracted 1.3 million subscribers with the perk of free wireless Internet at 7,500 Wi-Fi hotspots across the island.

The Wireless@SG offering flanks the IDA’s billion-dollar quest to improve the country’s Internet infrastructure through a combination of high-speed fibre-optic access and pervasive wireless broadband coverage.

Its debut reinvigorated the once-stagnant broadband landscape and prompted telcos such as Singapore Telecommunications and StarHub to up their game by ramping up access speeds and offering more competitive pricing.

‘400,000 (users) log in on a monthly basis,’ said Woo Kien Young, IDA’s deputy director of next generation wireless and platforms. ‘In many ways, Wireless@SG has exceeded its initial targets.’

Over the past three years, a subscriber’s average Wireless@SG usage has also grown from 2.1 hours per month to 3.6 hours, he added.

The strong take-up has prompted IDA to invest another $9 million to take this programme beyond its initial 2009 end date to 2013. This comes on top of the $30 million funding which has been allocated to Wireless@SG operators SingTel, iCell Network and QMax Communications in the last three years.

Besides extending the free deal, the speed limit for this service will be doubled from September to keep pace with the explosion in bandwidth-sapping services such as online video and music streaming.

Other planned enhancements over the next seven months include the use of automatic log-in mechanisms to replace the current requirement for manually keying in usernames and passwords for consumers, as well as new wireless surveillance and payment services for businesses.

The Wireless@SG upgrade forms part of a multi-million-dollar bundle of new initiatives unveiled by the IDA yesterday. With the looming fear of job losses amid the downturn, the regulator is also pumping in $20 million into new programmes to help defray the costs of hiring new trainees and training current IT employees in more advanced skill sets.

The IDA is also raising the income ceiling for its subsidised PC ownership programme to give more needy families access to new laptops, desktops and broadband packages at bargain basement prices.
 

Source : Business Times - 17 June 2009

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Jet Li buys $20m Binjai Rise bungalow

Jet Li buys $20m Binjai Rise bungalow

Tommie Goh acquires GCB from neighbour Sam Goi
(SINGAPORE) Action star Jet Li seems to be sinking deeper roots in Singapore. He and his wife, Nina, bought a good class bungalow (GCB) on Binjai Rise for $19.8 million last month. The price works out to $871 per square foot based on the freehold land area of 22,723 square feet.

Mr Li: Spurred to set up his charitable foundation after a narrow escape from the 2004 tsunami. He moved his family to Singapore in 2007 for his children’s education 
Mr Li is understood to have become a Singapore citizen.

Last year, he announced plans to set up a base in Singapore for his charity and disaster-relief group One Foundation. The Jet Li One Foundation Singapore was registered in June 2008.

Mr Li had said at the Forbes Global CEO Conference here in September last year that Singapore offers the right conditions for grooming future NGO leaders.

He was spurred to set up his charitable foundation after a narrow escape from the 2004 tsunami. According to earlier media reports, Mr Li moved his two daughters and wife to Singapore in 2007 for his children’s education.

The Beijing-born Mr Li led a life of hardship as a child (his father died when he was two) but persevered to emerge as China’s overall national wushu champion for five consecutive years in the 1970s. He began his acting career in the early 1980s, starting with Shaolin Temple and today has about 40 movies under his belt.

Mr Li became a US citizen in the 1980s.

When contacted, a spokeswoman for Singapore’s Immigration and Checkpoints Authority declined to confirm if Mr Li is now a Singapore citizen. ‘Due to reasons of confidentiality, the ICA will not discuss individual cases publicly,’ she said.

Mr Li was not the only luminary who picked up a GCB here in May.

2G Capital co-founder Tommie Goh bought 2A Ridley Park, next to his existing home, for $30 million or slightly over $1,100 psf.

The seller was ‘popiah king’ Sam Goi, executive chairman of Tee Yih Jia Food Manufacturing and an established investor in the GCB market.

Mr Goi is expected to move to a new palatial home that he has built on Nassim Road. BT understands that the two neighbours had been discussing the sale of 2A Ridley Park on and off for the past few years.

GCBs, with their stringent planning requirements, are the creme de la creme of Singapore’s housing market. There are only about 2,400 such bungalows on the island.

 
Source : Business Times - 17 June 2009

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