Was waterfront strip worth billionaire Ng’s $165.8 mil?

Singapore billionaire Ng Teng Fong's S$165.8 million ($107 million) winning bid for a downtown waterfront site will help him secure a hold in the key corridor of the city's financial district, analysts said. The developer, who bought the site through his Hong Kong unit Sino Land, plans to build a luxury boutique hotel with restaurants, shops and entertainment outlets, the government said in a statement. Ng owns the Fullerton Hotel and One Fullerton entertainment complex, located next to the site.

The price also exceeded the S$110 million it paid for the Fullerton site in October 1997, a property that's five times larger in size and sold at the start of the Asian economic crisis. Securing the site now allows the developer to build complementary properties instead of competing with the Fullerton.

The purchase price is 53 percent higher than a rival bid by Park Hotel Orchard, which offered to pay S$108.3 million. Sino Land's price works out to S$16,580 per square meter for a site with a 60-year lease, compared with the Fullerton's S$2,188 per square meter price on a property with a 99-year lease.

Sino Land said in a statement the new development would complement what it has in the area, and envisions a “Fisherman's Wharf” type project to draw tourists. Singapore sold the site for an attraction to help its target of doubling the number of overseas visitors to 17 million by 2015.

The new site costs 7.5 times more per square meter than the 99-year leasehold Fullerton site and only comes with a 60-year lease. It was $57.5 million or 53 percent higher than the next bid. Did Ng pay too much? There will be further parcels up for sale in the first half of next year. Will this affect the pricing of those land parcels?

Let us know what you think.

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Could tax revenue from IRs decrease need for GST hike?




Tax revenues from the two integrated resorts could reach up to S$3.1 billion a year. According to a Citigroup analyst, the government can expect the money influx within the first two years of operation.

Chua Hak Bin, Director, Asia Pacific Economic and Market Analysis, Citigroup, said, "When the two integrated resorts come onstream in 2010, they are expected to generate some S$2.7 billion in value-add for Singapore's GDP, and create 35,000 new jobs."

"I think that if you do some estimation of the possibility of the betting duties that can be raised from that, and looking from the experience of Macau, that can be quite substantial."

Many observers believe that the Singapore government can expect gaming tax revenues from the two resorts in the range of S$1.5 and S$3.1 billion.

"I think betting duties in Singapore now is S$1 billion, but there's a possibility of it going up to about US$2 to US$3 billion. For example, in Macau, it actually tripled over a span of three or four years. So looking at that, that's actually equivalent to a 2 to 4 percent GST hike, and that's quite substantial," said Mr Chua.

The assumption by Citigroup is based on 10 percent of the Singapore population visiting the integrated resorts per year. Membership fees for the casinos are projected at S$2,000 each for locals, and entry tax at about S$100 each.

With these numbers, Citigroup argues that gaming tax revenues could be equivalent to the proposed two percentage point hike in the Goods and Services Tax. Thus, there may be less of a need for a GST rise.

Mr Chua added, "We did have Hong Kong come out to say that the GST hike on their side is not a possibility now. That, therefore, rules out the possibility of Hong Kong also cutting their corporate tax rate. Does this mean that there's less need for Singapore to increase the GST as a consequence?"

The government plans to raise the GST to 7 percent from the current 5 percent to build up its resources for the future and fund social programmes for the elderly and lower income.

It has also said there will be an assistance package for the lower income that will more than offset the effect of the GST hike.

The government is set to gain huge amounts revenue from the resorts. A good proposal would be to actually increase the projected GST hike at a lower rate since there is expected revenue for the government from another source.

I believe what Singaporeans ultimately want to see would be the revenue from the GST increase as well as the revenues from the resorts be put back into them. They want to see tangible and transparent proof that the money has been invested back to the people. If this can be achieved, then all will be smiles.


It's hard to keep everybody happy, but with that kind of expected income, I bet the Singapore government would not disappoint. What are your opinions on this?

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Internet war heats up in Singapore as free Internet access begins


Singapore will extend its plan to provide free wireless high-speed Internet access to three years from two as part of government efforts to raise the city-state's competitiveness and increase technology exports.

Access in areas known as Wi-Fi hotspots will be provided from Dec. 1, one month ahead of schedule, the Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore said in a statement. Users can connect to the Internet at speeds as fast as 512 kilobits per second at these hotspots, which will number 5,000 by September, from 900 at present, the regulator said.

The Wireless@SG service is part of Singapore's plan to improve its technology infrastructure and boost competitiveness against countries in the region. The government forecasts technology-related exports to rise threefold and 80,000 jobs to be created in that industry within the next 10 years under its Intelligent Nation 2015 plan.

SingTel, Southeast Asia's largest telephone company, iCell and Qmax will invest in and operate the wireless network. They are jointly spending about S$100 million ($65 million), while the government is contributing as much as S$30 million.

SingTel and iCell will also offer Wi-Fi Internet access of as fast as 1 megabit per second for S$9.90 a month. An average song takes about 40 seconds to download at 1 Mbps.

That's cheaper than planned services from MobileOne, the smallest of Singapore's three mobile-phone companies. MobileOne yesterday said it will offer wireless high-speed Internet access for S$22 to S$68 per month from Dec. 6. The company will use high-speed downlink packet access, or HSDPA, to offer the nationwide services, rather than relying on hotspots.

"Our tariff plans for the M1 broadband service are very competitive, given that we provide islandwide coverage, with speeds of up to 3.6 megabits per second," MobileOne spokesman Chua Swee Kiat said in an e-mailed statement.


With 4000 more hotspots expected by September 2007, accessibility to the internet is getting easier. How much of an impact would the Wireless@SG service have on home users? How low will Starhub and MobileOne have to set their internet rates to retain their customers?
What do your think?

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