Asian Economic News: Singapore invites developers to build business hub on reclaimed land

SINGAPORE, March 1 Kyodo

Singapore will expand its business and financial district by building pristine new offices, swanky hotels and high-rise residential housing that could compete with some of the world's tallest on reclaimed land on its southern waterfront, the government said Tuesday.

The government launched a tender for the sale of a 3.6-hectare land parcel fronting Marina Bay that has been earmarked for the development of a world-class ''Business and Financial Center.''

The land is part of a 378-hectare stretch of land in the southern part of the island-state that was reclaimed from the sea in the 1970s and 1980s to enlarge Singapore's shores in anticipation of a shortage of space for future economic development.

Foreigners will also be allowed to bid for the 99-year leasehold under the tender exercise carried out by the Urban Redevelopment Authority, which is under the purview of the National Development Ministry.

Officials estimated that it may take 18 years for the area to be fully built. But as development is expected to take place in phases, the area, which is close to Singapore's existing financial and business district, would come to life incrementally, eventually increasing the size of the current financial and business district by about 10 percent.

''We are competing (with other countries) as a financial center,'' National Development Minister Mah Bow Tan told a press conference. The new center is aimed at meeting the ''specific needs of financial and business institutions and our own desire to attract more of them to come here and remain here.''

The government is also planning to build Singapore's first casino as part of an integrated resort and Singapore's second botanical gardens on adjacent sites. But there has been a raging debate among Singaporeans on the proposal to build a casino, and the government is only expected to make a decision in April whether to go ahead with the casino plan.

Nevertheless, the proposal for an integrated resort has already attracted a lot of attention from companies all over the world. Local newspapers said between 15 to 20 companies from the United States, Australia, Macao, Hong Kong, Britain, New Zealand and Singapore have submitted concept plans by the deadline that expired Monday.