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As aerospace park takes shape, many ‘black-and-white’ homes must go

The first phase of the $60 million Seletar Aerospace Park (SAP) project is nearing completion and Phase 2 is about to take off, so the agencies spearheading the redevelopment of the complex have been briefing residents and other tenants about the next step forward.

Agency officials, led by Edwin Ho, JTC Corp’s assistant director for industrial parks, met tenants of the colonial ‘black-and-white’ residences last night to inform them that 174 of the 378 buildings could be demolished.

A significant number of the remaining units will be converted to offices and commercial outlets, including F&B and lifestyle clusters around The Oval/Parklane area.

But about 100 will be retained as residences.

All affected tenants will have to move out by this December, while those remaining will have to sign up to new tenancies.

Mr Ho assured everyone that all aspects of the development of SAP were being done with the input of ‘all stakeholders’ including residents, commercial tenants, aviation business operators, the Nature Society and other interest groups.

Other works in the upcoming Phase 2 of the massive project will be road widening and refurbishment of buildings which will be retained.

Phase 2 works will begin next January and stretch until 2013.

Phase 1 has essentially focused on the groundbreaking works for new tenants Rolls-Royce and Pratt & Whitney, and upgrading facilities for existing giants like ST Aerospace and Jet Aviation.

Besides the demolition of old buildings and refurbishment of others, key elements of Phase 2 will also include demolition of the old water reclamation plant located in the complex and the upgrading of the airport and the lengthening of the runway by some 300 metres.

The runway lengthening will be done for 14 hours a day for 18 months, starting this November, with works done at night.

Also starting next January will be works on construction of a new flyover from the Tampines Expressway, which will be the main entrance to the complex. There will also be some road diversions within the area.

A joint project of the EDB, CAAS and JTC Corp, the SAP will host an integrated aerospace industry cluster incorporating maintenance, repair and overhaul, design and manufacturing of aircraft systems and components, business and general aviation, and an aviation campus to train pilots, other industry professionals and technical personnel.

When completed in 2018, the SAP is envisaged to elevate Singapore’s status as an aviation hub, contribute $3.3 billion a year or one per cent of GDP and create jobs for 10,000 people.

Source : Business Times - 31 Jul 2008

Falling oil prices may have eased the central bank’s inflation fears

(WASHINGTON) The US Federal Reserve looks set to keep interest rates on hold for an indefinite period despite disturbingly high inflation, as weak housing markets and tight credit weigh on the world’s largest economy.

However, officials at the Fed are also nervously watching inflation, which at 5 per cent over the 12 months to June was the highest in more than 17 years, and would act if its dynamics took a sharp turn for the worse.

In recent weeks, the Fed’s inflation fears may have eased somewhat. Oil prices have climbed down from record heights and the public’s expectations for future inflation have receded.

While some Fed officials have said the central bank should begin to raise benchmark rates soon to combat inflation, more strident anti-inflation hawks are likely to be no more than dissenters in Fed decisions to hold rates steady at 2 per cent.

When Fed policy-makers gather next Tuesday to consider interest rate policy it will be hard to argue, with six consecutive months of net job losses and home resales at the lowest in 10 years, that the US economy is overheating.

‘The economy continues to face numerous difficulties, including ongoing strains in financial markets, declining house prices, a softening labour market, and rising prices of oil, food and some other commodities,’ Fed chairman Ben Bernanke told Congress this month.

‘The housing market is really the central element of this (financial) crisis, and anything we can do to strengthen the housing market, to strengthen mortgage finance, would be beneficial,’ he said.

The disconnect between high inflation and a weak economy, and clues to Fed strategy to deal with both, have to do with underlying causes. Oil and commodity prices have been pushed up by surging global demand from emerging market economies.

‘The Federal Reserve cannot create another barrel of oil,’ Mr Bernanke told lawmakers frustrated with rising petrol prices. ‘It’s the global supply and demand conditions which are affecting those particular things to the most significant extent.’

In the United States, there is little evidence that wages and prices outside of the food and energy arena are spiralling higher amid the wreckage of the deep housing slump and the continued credit shake-out.

Though businesses are facing higher production costs, they are having a hard time passing those costs along to consumers, and workers in a competitive and weakening labour market have little leverage to demand higher salaries.

Recent developments could help Mr Bernanke build a case for a patient policy approach.

Crude oil prices have declined about US$26 from their record high of just over US$147 a barrel this month, and petrol prices have also begun to slide. A report last Friday showed consumers’ expectations of inflation five years out edging down from a 13-year high.

All bets for a steady policy, however, would be off if events began to break badly in the other direction, particularly if inflation expectations were becoming unhinged - a sign an inflationary psychology might be building that could be difficult to reel back in.

‘The Federal Open Market Committee will strongly resist an erosion of longer-term inflation expectations, as an unanchoring of those expectations would be destabilising for growth as well as inflation,’ Mr Bernanke said on June 9. — Reuters

Source : Business Times - 31 Jul 2008

Two 40-storey towers to be constructed under build-to-order system by 2014

A NEW generation of Housing Board flats is set to go on sale in about a year’s time at now-sleepy Dawson estate.

The 50-year-old Queenstown estate is set to be transformed with the construction of two striking 40-storey towers, designed by award-winning architects, SCDA Architects and WOHA Architects.

The towers, to boast about 1,800 flats, are being built under the HDB’s build-to-order (BTO) system - now the board’s main means of providing new housing stock.

HDB rarely builds new flats within a mature estate due to the lack of space. The new towers in Dawson will be nestled among gardens designed by landscape architects - a first for an HDB estate.

News that the flats will be on sale in a year’s time was unveiled by Ms Grace Fu, Senior Minister of State for National Development, at the HDB awards dinner yesterday.

She later told reporters that she expects very strong demand for the new flats.

Sales will start in the third quarter of next year. Construction could start six months after that and be completed in 2014, Ms Fu said.

At Dawson - Singapore’s first Housing Board estate - the SCDA-designed tower block is on a 2.2ha site and could feature about 800 flats. The other block, on a 2.7ha site, will have about 1,000 units.

The towers will have special features such as lofts, flexible flat designs, and sky villages or common high-rise space shared by every 10 floors.

But potential buyers can still influence the final design. Feedback is invited at an exhibition on Dawson estate before the consultants finalise their designs. The show at the HDB Hub in Toa Payoh runs from today until Aug 10.

Home-hunter Lauren Shen, 27, a graphic designer, said: ‘The flats are exciting because they can be customised. I have applied for a flat in Punggol. If I don’t get it, I will wait for these new ones.

‘But it will depend on the prices. My chances may be limited because I think they will be very popular.’

A third new-generation development will be added later at Dawson by Surbana International Consultants. It will be launched when the site for it is cleared by 2011.

To tie the three developments together, HDB has asked award-winning local landscape architects Cicada to draw up a landscape plan.

The plans will rejuvenate Dawson estate, which has about 3,000 flats. Dawson eventually could boast about 10,000 new homes, most of which are expected to be public flats.

HDB is keen to preserve Dawson’s heritage and is seeking contributions of old photos, postcards, books and other items for use in a display.

Source : Straits Times - 31 Jul 2008

Take-up of mid-priced projects at recent launches ‘encouraging’

THE property story has been one of gloom for months but Keppel Land (KepLand) sees a silver lining in the dark clouds.

It said market sentiment appears to be more positive now compared to the first quarter, ‘judging from the encouraging take-up in recent launches of mid-priced projects’.

But it added that market sentiment remained cautious due to ’slower economic growth and a challenging external environment’.

KepLand, which has projects in China, Vietnam and India, said that while regional property markets have been affected by higher mortgage rates and credit-tightening, housing demand will continue to grow.

Despite a lift in spirits, the firm had to report a 16.4 per cent slump in net profits for the three months to June 30 in the wake of the cooling market in Singapore and in the region.

Earnings came in at $52.7 million, down from $63 million in the same period a year ago, after property sales were almost halved.

Revenue plunged 48.2 per cent from $359.2 million to $185.9 million, partly on lower contributions from residential projects after they had been completed.

Singapore remains a stalwart for the firm, contributing over 70 per cent in net profits for the quarter.

The firm is expected to launch its prime residential projects, including Marina Bay Suites and Phase Two of Reflections at Keppel Bay, when sentiment improves.

KepLand also expects to benefit from the buoyant office market. It forecasts positive rental revisions that will be supported by strong demand for prime space over the next few years.

Earnings per share was 7.3 cents, down from 8.8 cents for the same period last year. Net asset value per share was $3.13 as at June 30, down from $3.18 at Dec 31.

Net profit for the six months was down 10 per cent at $112.96 million while revenue fell 29.9 per cent to $459 million. No dividend has been declared for the half-year ended June 30.

KepLand shares closed unchanged at $5 ahead of the earnings announcement yesterday. They have fallen by more than 30 per cent this year.

Source : Straits Times - 31 Jul 2008

YISHUN residents have given the thumbs-up to the Housing Board’s first Home Improvement Programme, which aims to spruce up the town’s existing facilities and add new ones.

Over nine in 10 voted in favour of upgrading when polling closed on Monday night, said Senior Minister of State for National Development Grace Fu.

Referring to the 94 per cent support, she said: ‘This shows a really strong endorsement.’ She was speaking at the HDB’s annual awards yesterday.

Township planner Surbana International Consultants swept the design awards in all categories - new housing, upgrading and parks - for the second year.

Two projects - Edgedale Green in Punggol and Central Horizon in Toa Payoh - won for new housing, while its work at Clementi Meadows won for the main upgrading programme. The firm won the park prize for Montreal Green in Sembawang.

Quality awards for building were also given to Poh Lian Construction and Straits Construction. Three contractors - Kienta Engineering Construction, Chiu Teng Construction and Teambuild Construction - won for quality in upgrading projects.

Six firms were lauded for good service, including Sun Microsystems, which runs the backup and recovery of HDB business data, and V-Workz International, supplier of e-brochure and virtual showflat systems.

For construction safety, Straits Construction, Sim Lian Construction and Teambuild Construction took top honours.

Source : Straits Times - 31 Jul 2008