Singapore home prices rose 4.6 per cent in the first three months of the year, climbing the 12th quarter in a row, the government real estate agency said on Monday. The Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) said its initial estimate of the price index for private residential homes rose to 136.2 points for the January-March period, from 130.2 in the previous three-month period.
The first-quarter gain follows a 3.8 per cent rise in the last three months of 2006. The index rose 9.8 per cent across the island republic for the whole of last year.
Singapore’s property sector recovery gained momentum after the government introduced measures in July 2005 to ease real-estate financing rules and foreign investment. Last month, CapitaLand and its Hong Kong partner Sun Hung Kai Properties said they had set a new pricing benchmark for Singapore residential property by selling some units in their downtown development for more than $4,000 (US$2,639) per square foot.
The advance estimate is compiled from transaction prices lodged during the first 10 weeks of the quarter, supplemented by information on the number of new units booked. The URA will release the official price index on April 27.
Source: The Business Times, 02 April 2007
Posted by Property Wizkid
______________________________________________________________________
What’s the irrisistable draw for a luxury penthouse?
Want to buy? In your dreams. Go bid for it, instead!
11,000sq ft penthouse packs in space, prestige, facilities and an astounding view in bid to woo super-rich
Imagine a posh bungalow that is perched high in the sky. That would be an apt description for what may become Singapore’s most expensive penthouse. Boasting built-up space of 11,000 sq ft, it is bigger than many landed homes here.
It takes up three levels - from the 39th to 41st storeys - at Reflections, a waterside residence at Keppel Bay.
The master bedroom alone - which has its own landscaped terrace - occupies one floor and is larger than a typical five-room flat.
There are five other sprawling rooms that may be used as bedrooms, a gym, cigar bar, wine cellar… the sky is truly the limit. And if the luxurious interiors are not enough to floor you, the view definitely will. The city’s picturesque skyline - including the bright lights of the Genting’s upcoming Resorts World at Sentosa - make for a stunning backdrop.
Developer Keppel Land will not quote a fixed price for this super-penthouse. A spokesman said: ‘For the Marina Bay Residences, $27m was the starting point of the sale price of a three-storey super-penthouse last December. There was more than one potential buyer, with competing bids.
‘For Reflections, if there is more than one interested party, it would go into a tender process.’ The spokesman said that there has been strong interest from potential buyers, but declined to release exact figures ahead of the launch next week. Keppel Land is confident that Reflections’ penthouses will be a hit, judging from the overwhelming response to Marina Bay.
Reflections also offers 34 double-storey penthouses, ranging between 3,600 sq ft and 8,200 sq ft in area. Each could cost at least $5m, based on the market rate of between $1,500 and $2,000psf. And that would be considered ‘cheap’ amid the ongoing rush for high-end properties.
Reflections joins the ranks of uber-penthouses, like CapitaLand and Sun Hung Kai Properties’ The Orchard Residences and CapitaLand’s The Seafront @ Meyer, that are priced at more than $4,000 psf and $2,200 psf respectively.
At The Orchard Residences, one local buyer reportedly paid $17m for a 53rd-storey penthouse. And, last May, SC Global sold the 7,000 sq ft penthouse at the swish The Boulevard Residence for $16m.
On average, foreigners make up between 20 and 40 per cent of buyers, property observers said. The strong demand for penthouses is driven by the recovery of the luxury housing market, Associate Professor Sing Tien Foo said.
Assoc Prof Sing, from the National University of Singapore’s Department of Real Estate, told The New Paper on Sunday: ‘The supply of penthouses in Singapore is limited, creating scarcity value of those in prime locations.
‘The demand also comes from foreign investors who see super-penthouses as a status symbol.’
Property experts said that attracting high-networth buyers also adds to the perceived value of a property.
Sentosa Cove, for instance, is seen as a playground for the rich, just as London’s Kensington Palace Gardens - home to celebrities and dignitaries - is dubbed Billionaires’ Row.
The rich care who their neighbours are, observed Mr Jonathan Miller, president of Miller Samuel, a New York-based real estate firm. New York is world’s penthouse capital, while other swank addresses include London. (See report at right.)
So how do Singapore’s super-penthouses stack up? Mr Joseph Tan, director of residential housing at CB Richard Ellis, said: ‘Singapore is still in its infancy if you compare the penthouses in London, New York and Hong Kong.
‘The market in Singapore has not reached the ultimate luxe status - yet. \+‘But we are already attracting a growing number of affluent foreigners because the penthouses are cheaper here than those in the US and UK. For what we offer, our penthouses are seen as good value and a good investment.’
According to the 2006 International Residential Review by Knight Frank, the world’s prime residential markets - including London, Paris, Sydney and Phuket - saw strong growth in 2005. The company also believes that buyers from the growing economies, like China and the US, will increasingly look for real estate abroad.
Apart from a panoramic view, location is still key. Mr Vincent Chong, associate director of Colliers International, noted that other factors include architecture and facilities. Besides designer fittings, Keppel has upped the luxe quotient at Reflections by offering homeowners a 10-year free membership at the Marina at Keppel Bay on Keppel Island. Its facilities include a clubhouse, gourmet restaurants, a spa and charter services to the neighbouring islands.
And who knows? Developers may throw in VIP access to the IRs in the future.
Source: The New Paper, 02 April 2007
Posted by Property Wizkid
______________________________________________________________________
Enbloc is such a pain, MOL has to provide some pain relief
The Ministry of Law kicks off a six-week-long public consultation for proposed changes to collective sales legislation from today. Besides four key changes announced by MinLaw early last month, the consultation paper also covers several other areas.
These include submission of a valuation report as at the date of acceptance of the successful bid in the collective sale application to the Strata Titles Board (STB), and allowing all owners (not just minority owners objecting to an en bloc sale) to apply to the STB to settle any compensation disputes with their tenants.
En bloc lawyer S K Phang of Phang & Co welcomed the latter change as ‘an important clarification’ which means owners who agree in principle with an en bloc sale but who may have issues with their tenants will no longer be forced to object to the collective sale and join the minority camp.
In addition, the following information will no longer need to be included in taking out an advertisement on an en bloc sale application - the names of owners, their addresses, unit numbers and strata lot numbers; as well as names of mortgagees, chargees and other persons with an estate and interest in the lots, flats and land.
‘This will also accord a certain degree of privacy to the owners of the units undergoing an en bloc sale process,’ MinLaw said. Agreeing, Dr Phang said another benefit from the change is the savings to owners from being able to place smaller ads.
Another amendment being proposed seeks to extend en bloc sale by majority consent to a class of estates not covered by current legislation. These are estates where strata title certificates have been issued but where the original landowner/developer retained the strata title certificates, and instead gave long leases (of at least 850 years) to those who bought apartments in the estate.
Currently, apartment owners in these estates can only do an en bloc sale by unanimous consent - and with the approval of the original developer, who owns the reversionary interest in the land. MinLaw is proposing to allow apartment owners in such estates to proceed with an en bloc sale by majority consent. The original developer’s consent will not be required as, upon approval of the en bloc sale by STB, he will lose all rights to the land.
It is not known just how many such estates there are, but at least one case - in the Novena area - is said to have surfaced and brought to the attention of the authorities. The proposed change will plug a gap in the legislation and extend en bloc sale by majority consent to such estates.
Another amendment MinLaw is proposing clarifies that the notice on the number and percentage of share value of owners who have signed the collective sale agreement (CSA) should be put up in the last week of every eight-week period, starting from the day the first owner signs the CSA.
The STB will also be empowered to disregard any technical/procedural irregularity if it is satisfied that the irregularity will not prejudice any owner’s interest. MinLaw said that STB has had to dismiss a few applications purely because of technical non-compliance, and when that happens, the majority owners need to start the application process again, including advertising the new application, service of the notice, and so on.
The four major changes announced by MinLaw on March 2 are also included in the consultation paper:
Majority consent (80 or 90 per cent, depending on the age of a development) to be defined based on ownership of units, in addition to share values;
- STB to be given power to increase sale proceeds for minority owners with valid objections in appropriate cases, subject to a cap of 0.25 per cent of sale proceeds to be deducted from every unit, or $2,000 per unit, whichever is higher;
- STB to be empowered to issue guidelines on the allowable expenditures to be taken into account in evaluating claims of financial loss; En bloc sale committees to be formed only at extraordinary general meetings convened by management corporations.
The public may view the consultation paper and the proposed legislative amendments on the Ministry of Law’s website at www.minlaw.gov.sg or the Govt Consultation Portal - REACH - at www.reach.gov.sg.
Source: The Business Times, 02 April 2007
Posted by Property Wizkid
______________________________________________________________________
Better margin for Wing Tai’s Ardmore Point site
Listed Wing Tai Holdings may enjoy a saving in its land cost for Ardmore Point, resulting in a lower breakeven cost for the new project that it will develop on the site. BT understands that the development charge (DC) - a component of the developer’s land cost - will be significantly lower than the $31 million estimated earlier because the development baseline has turned out to be higher than previously assumed.
DC is typically calculated based on the difference between proposed development use and the development baseline. The latter is pegged to the site’s existing entitlement or the highest use for the site which has been paid for.
The higher the development baseline the lower the DC amount payable, based on a given DC rate.
Industry observers reckon that following its development baseline search, Wing Tai has managed to lock in the DC quantum based on the Sept 1, 2006 rates by obtaining provisional permission for a new condo project before the latest revisions in DC rates took effect on March 1, 2007 rates.
When Wing Tai announced its acquisition of Ardmore Point in October last year at $201 million, the DC was assumed to be $31 million, reflecting an all-in unit land price of $1,369 per square foot per plot ratio. With a lower DC, the unit land price is lower and, as a result, Wing Tai’s breakeven cost for the new project on the plot will also be lower. This translates to a bigger profit margin for the listed property group. The company declined to comment.
The 60,533-square-foot freehold site is zoned for residential use with a 36-storey maximum height. It could be developed into a new condo with about 108 units averaging 1,800 square feet. Wing Tai has not given details of the project, except to say recently that it is slated for launch early next year.
The application for the collective sale of Ardmore Point by its majority owners was made to the Strata Titles Board in late November last year. Two owners objected but the case was settled following a mediation in January this year.
Market sources say one area of dispute could have been the higher-than-expected development baseline which Wing Tai now enjoys. The sale, brokered by CB Richard Ellis, was approved on Jan 27.
The $31 million DC quantum indicated earlier was an estimate, made without a development baseline search with the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA). Property agents told BT that a common reason agents do not make any application to URA to confirm the development baseline is the high costs involved ranging anywhere from about $4,000-$10,000 for engaging the services of an architect to estimate the gross floor area (GFA) of the existing development and then recomputing it from the old definition of GFA to the current definition.
This is required by URA if the existing development on the site was approved before Sept 1, 1989. Based on the information provided, URA will process the application for $1,500. A seasoned property consultant told BT that for very important collective sales cases, his firm may decide to take a business risk and first pay for the costs involved in verifying the development baseline, but with an undertaking from the en bloc sales committee that the amount would be deducted from sale proceeds of all owners upon the successful sale of the property.
However, if a sale fails to materialise, then the property consultancy firm runs the risk of being saddled with the costs. Another alternative would be to ask members of the en bloc sales committee to bear the costs first and claim them from the remaining owners later. Yet another solution would be to state explicitly in the sale and purchase agreement with the developer buying the site as to how any difference in actual development baseline/DC will be split between owners and developer.
Some quarters argue that if the developer makes an unconditional offer for a site - that is, one not tied to a specific redevelopment approval from the authorities or to a certain development baseline/DC - then the developer would have a stronger case for not being obligated to agree to share any DC saving with the sellers, just as the owners would not want to accept a lower price in the event that the developer has to bear a higher DC.
Source: The Business Times, 02 April 2007
Posted by Property Wizkid
________________________________________________________________________
5000 properties snapped up by foreigners
More foreigners than ever are forking out millions to buy a residential property in Singapore. Last year, they snapped up nearly 5,000 units, which represented a 23 per cent market share, property consultants said. And as the luxury property boom gained pace in the final quarter of last year, their buying spree hit an all-time high. For the first time, their market share hit 26 per cent, beating the previous all-time high of 24 per cent in 1995.
Before the market started to bounce back in 2005, foreign homebuyers made up less than 20 per cent of all buyers in Singapore. Indonesians bought the most private residential properties here last year, accounting for about 23.7 per cent of foreign buyers, based on statistics compiled by Knight Frank. Malaysians took second place with 22.7 per cent. Indians came third, with 8.4 per cent, followed by Britons, with 8 per cent. Buyers from China took up 7.7 per cent. Next came Australians, with 5 per cent. Other significant foreign buyer groups came from the United States, Taiwan and Hong Kong.
More foreigners are also buying landed homes, particularly in the prime districts, even though they need approval to buy. Some of them have benefited from recent collective sales and are looking for a landed home with their proceeds, said an agent covering the landed market.
He has worked with British and Indian clients who have no problems with paying a 1 per cent deposit for a house costing up to $10 million, even before obtaining approval to buy. The home-buying budgets of many foreigners run to several millions of dollars.
Fourth-quarter caveats lodged showed that nearly half of the foreign buyers bought homes for between $1 million and $5 million, said Knight Frank. About 38 per cent bought homes costing $500,000 to $1 million. An elite group of 5 per cent bought posh homes costing $5 million or more, it said.
Source: The Sunday Times, 01 April 2007
Posted by Property Wizkid
______________________________________________________________________
What the government can do with spiraling CBD office rental.Will it really help?
The government will move to tackle the office space crunch in the Central Business District, National Development Minister Mah Bow Tan said yesterday. Acknowledging an ‘imbalance’ between supply and demand, he said the authorities will likely step up the pace of government land sales (GLS) in the CBD. ‘I think the quantum will have to be stepped up as we see a tightening up of supply,’ Mr Mah said.
The government has also set an ambitious target for further development of Marina Bay and the new downtown, which Mr Mah said could begin from as early as 2009. To deal with the immediate office space crunch, the government is considering releasing state land for short-term use, he said. The Urban Redevelopment Authority confirmed later that it is exploring whether vacant sites can be used for ‘transient offices’.
‘They would be basic but proper office accommodation that can be constructed quickly - for example, one year - and would be on land on short tenures,’ a spokesman said. ‘This is still under study and we have not firmed up the details yet.’ Mr Mah, speaking yesterday at the ground-breaking ceremony for a new bridge that will span the mouth of Marina Bay, painted broad strokes of how the rest of Marina Bay will take shape.
The first site to be released - a white site with an office space requirement, on Central Boulevard - will be launched for sale in May, he said. Another key site is the stretch between the upcoming Marina Bay Sands and Marina Bay Financial Centre. Mr Mah said this choice plot will complete the loop of developments around Marina Bay when completed, but it will only be available when other construction work ends around 2009.
Other sites that will then come on stream will extend from Marina Bay and wrap around the Garden at Marina South.
The existing CBD will also be extended southwards into what is being called the Central sub-zone.
The as-yet-unnamed bridge, which will cost $82.9 million, will provide direct road access between Marina Centre and the new Bayfront at Marina South.
Mr Mah said that the bridge is part of $2 billion to be spent on infrastructure developments there, including the critical common services tunnel. ‘In turn, we have attracted about $10 billion of investments to date,’ he said. Land likely to be released for development this year includes a boutique hotel site next to the Marina Bay Sands, the international cruise terminal site and the central promontory site. All are likely to go through a Request for Concept stage.
Mr Mah said he wants to reassure the business community that office space will be made available. State buildings vacated by the government could be an immediate source, he said. ‘It may not be used for MNC head offices, but it can certainly be used for back-end office for financial institutions.’
The government has moved some of its offices out of the CBD but Mr Mah said there are ‘one or two’ left. He also said the authorities will ‘encourage’ users to make better use of existing sites, but did not elaborate on whether the government will make it more attractive for owners of old office buildings to redevelop them.
With the pace of construction likely to be maintained or stepped-up, Mr Mah reiterated that sand supplies are not a concern because the authorities are finding new sources. He said the supply and price of sand will not affect the building of the integrated resorts, and he does not expect any delay to the opening dates.
Mr Mah did, however, say the government is close to finalising details on how it will help contractors involved with government contracts who face cash flow problems because of higher construction costs. The government said earlier it would pay for 75 per cent of the additional costs for public-sector contractors.
Details are expected within the month, Mr Mah said. ‘In principle, we will make progress payments. If we can help contractors with cash flow payments, we will do so.’
Source: The Business Times, 31 March 2007
Posted by Property Wizkid
______________________________________________________________________
Sold! $8.5m for the 21,000 sft floor in Heartland Mall.
The fourth level of Heartland Mall near Kovan MRT Station was sold for $8.5 million on Thursday at a DTZ Debenham Tie Leung auction. According to some auction regulars present, the buyers are believed to be members of the Cheong family who developed International Plaza on Anson Road and who still have some units there.
The family members are believed to be cousins of Simon Cheong of SC Global Developments fame. The other star attraction at the auction - Jurong Reptile Park - was withdrawn after receiving a top offer of $860,000. But immediately after the auction, an individual is said to have made an offer of over $1 million and negotiations are expected to take place. The investor is expected to continue leasing out the retail outlets at the park. However, he may remove the reptiles and introduce some new sports and recreational attraction.
The 206,304-square-foot site has a remaining lease of about nine years. The park - formerly known as Jurong Crocodile Paradise - drew four bidders. The opening price of $1.8 million sought by DTZ auctioneer Shaun Poh found no takers. Instead, there was a counter offer by a bidder at $600,000, and bidding continued until it reached a high of $860,000, at which point the property was withdrawn.
The property was put up for sale by liquidator Stone Forest Corporate Advisory Pte Ltd. The fourth floor of Heartland Mall drew just one bid - of $8.5 million - from the Cheong family. But that was good enough for seller Wang Lei Investment, understood to be linked to the company that owns karaoke chain Kbox. The space comprises six units adding up to 21,131 square feet of lettable area. Five of the units are leased until August 2012 to private schools, at a combined monthly rental of about $67,200. This reflects a net yield of just over 8 per cent. The four-storey mall stands on a site with a remaining lease of 76 years. Wang Lei bought the six units for $6.8 million from mortgagee Maybank last year.
Source: The Business Times, 31 March 2007
Posted by Property Wizkid
______________________________________________________________________
Supply vs Demand. And supply wins hands down.Obviously rentals skyrocketed!
The redevelopment and regeneration of the Central Business District (CBD) is well under way, but it may not be happening fast enough. According to a report by DTZ Debenham Tie Leung, average annual take-up of office space has been 1.8 million square feet for the last 10 years. Yet, the property firm notes that potential supply for 2007 is estimated at 612,000 sq ft.
In 2008 and 2009, supply will dip below 500,000 sq ft and will only pick up in 2010 to 2.15 million sq ft.
And already, the repercussions are being felt. In its Global Office Occupancy Costs Survey 2007, DTZ shows that rents in Singapore rose 65 per cent year on year, the highest increase across all 134 locations surveyed, to US$7,860 per workstation per year.
As a result, Singapore climbed 41 places on DTZ’s survey list to 55th spot globally, and was up six places to ninth position in the Asia-Pacific region. There does appear to be an imbalance of supply and demand, and as DTZ executive director Ong Choon Fah says: ‘The government can programme development.’ For Mrs Ong, the pace of redevelopment in the CBD could have been faster but as she also points out: ‘Crystal ball-gazing is not easy.’
‘It’s a combination of planning and market forces,’ she added.
Perhaps one of the best examples of this paradox is One Raffles Quay (ORQ). A consortium of Keppel Land, Cheung Kong Holdings and Hongkong Land bought the site in March 2001 for $462 million, or $290 per square foot per plot ratio (psf ppr), at a time when, as Mrs Ong remembers, the property market was ‘very bad’. Indeed, the site had previously been offered for sale in 1997 and there were no takers. The expected price of between $600 million and $800 million was also not achieved.
Mrs Ong says that the acquisition was seen as ‘contrarian’ at the time. But ORQ is now fully leased and achieving top rents, spurring redevelopment and a rash of acquisitions by foreign funds of buildings, most recently Temasek Tower.
Also contrarian was City Developments Ltd (CDL), which in 2002 bought the site for its hugely successful The Sail @ Marina Bay for $227.10 psf ppr - 22 per cent lower than the price paid for neighbouring ORQ. Looking back, CDL group general manager Chia Ngiang Hong said: ‘CDL purchased the white site which is now being developed into The Sail at a time when no other developer was willing to venture into building a residential development at Marina Bay.’
CDL is now redeveloping One Shenton (the former Robina House) into a high-end condominium with a retail component, and has also expressed interest in the UIC Building next door, which is for sale at about $830 million or $1,150 psf ppr (inclusive of development charge and lease top-up).
Developers now appear to be making up for lost time, and demand for development sites is high. ‘Older buildings are often strategically located in prime areas that render them ideal for redevelopment. As such, although the older buildings purchased via en bloc acquisitions are not immediately available due to longer lead time required for planning process, their conversion may yield better returns,’ Mr Chia said.
The spate of current redevelopments, including the government land sales site at Collyer Quay and Overseas Union House, can be attributed to the ‘programming of development’ by the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA). Some, like the redevelopment of Natwest Centre into a condominium called The Clift by Far East Organization, was prompted by a URA initiative to bring more critical mass into an otherwise quiet downtown at night. Plot ratio incentives are also important.
A spokesman for the URA said: ‘A number of existing office buildings in the CBD, in particular in the Shenton Way and Cecil Street areas, have not yet maximised their full development potential under the current Master Plan 2003.’
The pace of redevelopment has certainly picked up since 2003. Keppel Land is the latest to take advantage of the Master Plan and will soon announce plans for the redevelopment of Ocean Building.
‘There are merits in redeveloping Ocean Building and these include the opportunity to add about 100,000 sq ft of gross floor area which has not been utilised,’ a spokesman for Keppel Land said. ‘Furthermore, it will become increasingly challenging for the building, which is about 33 years old, to attract and retain top-quality tenants. By redeveloping Ocean Building we will be able to effectively maximise the potential of the site.’
Mrs Ong for one welcomes the government’s initiatives to address the issue of supply in the CBD, including the release of more development sites. She says that it is important to maintain the current ‘momentum of development’, not least because it allows the older parts of the CBD to regenerate. She notes: ‘In the 1970s, when the government started releasing sites in Shenton Way, it stimulated the regeneration of the old Raffles Place.’
Source: The Business Times, 31 March 2007
Posted by Property Wizkid
_______________________________________________________________________
US$20b heading this way?
At least US$20 billion in global funds could be invested into properties in Singapore this year. This is according to a report by the global office of property consultancy DTZ.That is about 10 percent of the US$200 billion that DTZ expects will be channelled into properties in the Asia Pacific in 2007.
At US$200 billion, this amount of money is a jump of some two thirds from 2006. And according to DTZ, the bulk will come from global investment funds. They are seen as targeting all property sectors – residential, offices, retail and industrial – as real estate has been performing better than equities in recent years.
Joe Valente, Director, Head of Research, DTZ UK, said: “There is a huge wave of worldwide capital waiting and wishing to invest in real estate worldwide. There are all sorts of reasons for that, but we would estimate that at the moment there is something close to US$2.5 trillion looking to be invested in real estate, and probably around 30 to 40 percent of that is looking for a home in the Asia Pacific.
“The key problem in all of this is actually finding sufficient investment grade stock in good locations that are expected to outperform.” Japan will snap up about half of the money coming into Asia-Pacific. But Singapore is among the top five destinations in the region – along with Australia, China and Hong Kong.
“We’re expecting Singapore to capture 10 to 12 percent market share of the total amount of capital that is looking for a home within Asia markets. That hasn’t changed quite significantly over the last two or three years. And much of that has to do with the liquidity and transparency of Singapore, which makes it a much more mature market compared with other emerging markets in Asia,” said Mr Valente.
In Singapore, DTZ expects residential and office properties to do particularly well. But it said the retail and industrial sectors would lag behind their counterparts in Japan and China. The Head of Research said: “On a global basis, the level of performance that I would expect to get in retail within Singapore, and in industrials within Singapore are far in excess of the sort of returns that I would expect to find in European markets or in US markets. So that’s a positive point for Singapore.
“However, in relative terms, there are one or two, or three or four other markets in Asia which are likely to outperform Singapore’s performance, so all else being equal, that’s where I would go for those particular sectors.” Overall property investment sales in Singapore hit over US$6 billion in the first three month of this year.
Source: Channel NewsAsia, 30 March 2007
Posted by Property Wizkid
______________________________________________________________________
Government tries to ease supplies; is it too late?
The government is set to release more sites for office use through its land sales programme to meet increasing demand. Besides land sales, National Development Minister Mah Bow Tan said the government would also consider releasing existing sites. And this includes freeing up vacated government office sites in the city area.
In land-scarce Singapore, releasing space for office use requires careful planning. To meet the growing demand, the Central Boulevard and Beach Road sites have been released. The National Development Minister said if those sites are not enough, more downtown sites would be put up for sale.
And if there is still a need for space after that, the government will consider providing “transition office space”.
Mr Mah said: “I think all of these moves will deal not just with the immediate problem but also with the longer term issue of supply and demand.
“Rest assured that there is sufficient space for expansion of the commercial sector and the office sector in the longer run. But we need to deal with the immediate term as well and this is what I want to emphasise.” He was speaking to reporters after the groundbreaking ceremony for a new bridge at Marina Bay. The bridge will be built at a cost of S$90 million (US$59 million).
When completed in 2009, it will be open to vehicles and pedestrians who will enjoy a 3.5km walking route around the bay. Mr Mah said: “I think the bridge groundbreaking ceremony that we have today is another significant development in the series of development that we are seeing around the bay.
“We already have the flyer; we’ve the IR (Integrated Resort), BFC (Business and Financial Centre), the Sail and Collyer Quay. So the bridge is, in a way, starting to tie up all these developments together and when it is completed, it will physically tie everybody together.”
The bridge is part of the government’s S$2 billion (US$1.3 billion) investment in infrastructure to develop the area.
To make Marina Bay more vibrant, a series of sporting events will be held there every year.
Source: Channel NewsAsia, 30 March 2007
Posted by Property Wizkid
No comments:
Post a Comment