The global hospitality sector is set to make a come back next year after several sluggish quarters. Observers told an industry seminar in Singapore that the serviced apartment segment in Asia will emerge the strongest. But hotels may struggle with fewer business travellers and an oversupply of hotel rooms. The hospitality sector has seen sluggish times since the start of the global downturn. But...
2009
Island resort Sentosa will soon be home to the world’s tallest duel roller-coaster ride and movie stars such as Marilyn Monroe, Shrek and the motley mob of Alex, Marty, Melman and Gloria last spotted in Madagascar,the movie. The Universal Studios theme-park which will be housed on the 49 hectares Resorts World at Sentosa, revealed Tuesday its two dozen attractions, including 18 rides and attractions...
National Development Minister Mah Bow Tan will be delivering a keynote address at the 45th ISOCARP International Congress in Porto, Portugal, on Tuesday. The congress is organised by the International Society of City and Regional Planners. It is an annual gathering of key policy and decision makers, professional urban planners and industry experts from the international urban planning community. This...
DPU falls as equity base grows after fund-raising, occupancy slips ASCENDAS Real Estate Investment Trust (A-Reit) yesterday reported a net property income of $81.1 million for the second quarter ended Sept 30 - up 11.7 per cent from a year ago. Distributable income also increased as a result, rising 15.4 per cent from the same period last year to $61.6 million. But distributable income per unit (DPU)...
Ascendas Real Estate Investment Trust (A-REIT) is distributing 3.48 cents per unit, down 13.2 per cent on-year, for the second quarter ended September. However, total distributable income is up 15.4 per cent at S$61.6 million, compared to the same period last year. The drop in distribution per unit is largely attributed to share dilution after the private placement of new units in August this...
Prime office rents may be on a downward trend, but analysts say there is nothing much to worry about as the decline is a necessary correction. An oversupply of office space and low demand has knocked down prime office rentals in the central business district (CBD). Rents have fallen as much as 40 per cent since the beginning of 2008 but observers said that rents are not in a free fall. They said the...
The number of public housing blocks eligible for lift upgrading has gone up. When the lift upgrading programme (LUP) started in 2001, 5,300 blocks did not have full lift access. Of these, 1,000 did not qualify due to the high cost of upgrading. But now, that number has dropped to 200. Eligible blocks are those where the cost of fitting lifts on every floor, averages a maximum of S$30,000 per unit. But...
More Singapore companies, including small and medium enterprises (SMEs), may soon have opportunities to be involved in projects in the Sino-Singapore Tianjin Eco-city in China. Senior Minister of State for National Development, Grace Fu, was replying to a question by Dr Ong Seh Hong in Parliament on Monday. Ms Fu said the ministry has been working with IE Singapore and the Building and Construction...
Ascendas Real Estate Investment Trust (A-REIT) has announced a 11.7% y-o-y increase in net property income to $81.1 million for 2Q FY09/10 due to an enlarged portfolio compared to $97.3 million for 2Q FY08/09. Distributable income increased by 15.4% to $61.6 million from a year ago. However, DPU for the quarter fell 13.2% to 3.48 cents for the quarter from 4.01 cents a year ago. Reflecting the severe...
Singapore, under pressure from the G20 to improve banking transparency, passed a bill in Parliament today amending its income tax law to comply with OECD standards to fight cross border tax evasion. The new bill enables the Singapore government to ask banks for client information in potential cases of foreign tax evasion, and not just for domestic tax cases as allowed by the previous law. “This enhanced...