New road network in Marina Bay area

A new road network will be built progressively in the new downtown Marina Bay area as part of the Land Transport Authority’s new developments in 2010.

This is to serve upcoming developments such as the Marina Bay Sands Integrated Resort and the Marina Bay Financial Centre.

Motorists travelling to the Marina Bay Sands Integrated Resort can soon use a new bridge and road.

The Bay Bridge connects directly across the Marina Centre to Marina Bay.

Motorists can then continue along Bayfront Avenue towards the Marina Bay Financial Centre.

With the opening of the 1.4 kilometre bridge and road, a new ERP gantry will also be installed.

Yam Ah Mee, chief executive, Land Transport Authority, said: "Together with the Bayfront Avenue road, there’s a need to adjust the CBD cordon and having a new ERP gantry at that location. So that the overall, CBD cordon comprising of the Orchard cordon, the Shenton—Chinatown cordon and the Marina City cordon remains intact.

“And that’s the reason why we are closing the CBD cordon and adjusting it with this new ERP gantry."

The Bayfront Avenue ERP gantry will be up by end—March.

To further adjust the CBD cordon, three more ERP gantries will be erected and will be operational in the third quarter of this year.

The existing gantry along Central Boulevard will be replaced by a new one at Marina Way.
Two other gantries will be on the other side of Bayfront Avenue and Marina Station Road.

In other developments, motorists can look forward to the opening of the Bartley viaduct on Sunday.

The 1.9 kilometre long viaduct marks the completion of the Bartley extension project.

Mr Yam said: "With the opening of the Bartley viaduct, motorists can expect travelling along Tampines Avenue 10 to Bartley to have a time saving of about 10 to 15 minutes and also alternatives to PIE. We expect that up to about five to 10 per cent of motorists, may consider alternatives of travelling on the Bartley viaduct instead of going through PIE."

The Bartley Road extension project, which started in 2000, costs S$208 million.

Source: CNA/vm

Singapore's economy likely to be buoyed by global recovery in 2010

Singapore's economy is expected to revert to positive growth next year, thanks to the global recovery.


According to some economists, growth could even surpass the government's estimates for 2010. They are looking at GDP growth of more than 5 per cent, compared to the government's current forecast of a 3 to 5 per cent growth.

This follows 2009's roller coaster ride, where the economy took a beating in the early part of the year before recovering in the second half.

Export-dependent Singapore was among the first in Asia to fall into recession towards the end of 2008. The economy contracted by 14.6 per cent on-quarter in the first quarter of 2009, following a decline of 16.4 per cent in the previous three months. Then it took a sharp turn upwards, catching the markets by surprise.

David Cohen, director of Asian economic forecasting, Action Economics, said: "The rebound has been better than expected. The strong growth in the second and third quarter GDP in Singapore was better, at a double-digit quarter-on-quarter annualised rate.

"It was a reflection of the turnaround. It was more or less in line with the pattern around the region where many of the Asian exporting economies, after the sharp fall-off in their production and exports in the beginning of the year, rebounded as global demand started to recover."

Song Seng Wun, CEO & regional economist, CIMB-GK Research, said: "After a fairly weak start to the year in the aftermath of the collapse of global demand, we saw things improving in subsequent quarters...

"Aggressive intervention by the Singapore government and others around the world stabilised an uncertain environment. When you have heavy government intervention in the economy, it gives confidence back to businesses and consumers as well."

While the outlook for 2010 appears to be brightening, some said much depends on the United States and when global central banks will cut liquidity.

"Which is why there is much debate on whether governments should withdraw liquidity, withdraw from the economy. It's probably a bit premature. The risk really is that the number one engine, the US, continues to see patchy recovery," said Mr Song.

Sector-wise, manufacturing was the worst hit by the downturn in 2009, but it is looking up.

The manufacturing sector, which accounts for about a quarter of the country's GDP, is expected to grow by about 8 per cent in the fourth quarter this year, after a surprise rebound in the third quarter. This performance is expected to continue into 2010.

Mr Cohen said: "Assuming the global economy remains on recovery trajectory, that should support continued recovery in manufacturing sector and this, including the electronics sector globally, should turn around.

"Perhaps Singapore will still be feeling some drag from the closing of some disk drive production sites, but that should be balanced by the continued uptrend in the pharmaceutical area, where Singapore continues to enjoy an expansion in the global industry that is expected to continue into next year."

Meanwhile, all eyes will also be on the much-anticipated opening of Singapore's two integrated resorts. They are expected to add about 0.5 per cent to GDP growth next year, through a boost to tourist arrivals and retail sales.

Source: Channel NewsAsia, 21 December 2009

April opening for Singapore Marina Bay casino-report

Marina Bay Sands, Singapore's waterfront casino on the edge of the city state's business district, is likely to be open in April, Channel News Asia reported on Saturday, citing unnamed sources.

The casino, operated by Las Vegas Sands , had been originally scheduled to open its doors by the end of 2009, but the date was put back to the first quarter of 2010.

"Sources have told MediaCorp the earliest the resort will start operations is in April. But some industry observers said June is a more realistic date," Channel News Asia, the news TV channel operated by MediaCorp, reported on its website .

They source said the resort was determined to open at least the casino and about a third of the rooms first as they were considered "high-revenue areas".

Marina Bay Sands was not immediately available to comment.

The Singapore casino will cost $5.25 to $5.5 billion against an original forecast of $3.2 billion when the project was conceived and will go into operation at a time when tourism is shrinking due to global economic recession.

A second casino is being built by Genting Singapore , a unit of Malaysia's Genting Bhd , on the resort island on Sentosa. It is scheduled to open in the first quarter of 2010.

Singapore is hoping the casinos will boost the number of visitors and benefit its retail sectors as well as flag carrier Singapore Airlines , the world's largest airline by market value. (Reporting by Harry Suhartono and Kevin Lim, editing by Ron Popeski)

Source: Reuters - Saturday, December 19