203.127.49.177 IP address location & more:IP address [?]: 203.127.49.177 [Whois] [Reverse IP]IP country code: SGIP address country: SingaporeIP address state: n/aIP address city: SingaporeIP address latitude: 1.2931IP address longitude: 103.8558ISP of this IP [?]: SingNet Pte LtdOrganization: JAC (S) PTE LTD
Changi race track hits the skidsWork suspended, project faces permanent halt as investors freeze fundsby Ian De Cotta 05:55 AM Feb 15, 2011SINGAPORE - Amid towers of piling rigs and stacks of steel pipes, an eerie silence enveloped the 41ha site in Changi, where work to build Singapore's first permanent motor racing track is supposed to have been going ahead full steam.This reporter's visit to the site yesterday showed all activity on the Changi Motorsports Hub had ground to a halt. Further enquiries revealed that work had stopped in the middle of last month after SG Changi, the consortium who won the bid in 2009 to build the facility, failed to deliver on time an instalment for the $50-million piling work.But SG Changi told MediaCorp yesterday that the outstanding $10 million due to CSC Holdings will be paid today after company chairman and shareholder Fuminori Murahashi had secured a personal loan."The amount will be enough to cover the entire cost of the piling work but it is not going to cover the sum needed to complete the project," SG Changi director and general manager Moto Sakuma told MediaCorp. "We have secured US$200 million ($256 million) from investors in Hong Kong that would have allowed us to do so but they have frozen the funds."The $370-million project came under scrutiny after media reports last month said the Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau (CPIB) had begun a probe into the tender for the project.MediaCorp revealed that the consortium's only other shareholder, Thia Yoke Kian, had been assisting the bureau with investigations since November.The Singapore permanent resident led the group to beat two other consortia in their successful bid to build the track but was dropped from the management team in July.While Sakuma said they have handed their accounts and records to the CPIB and cooperated with the bureau fully, they are unsure if the probe is still in progress or has been concluded.Said the Japanese: "We've got nothing to hide, we've given them everything they have asked for and are confident SG Changi are not involved in anything irregular. "But as long as CPIB do not clear us publicly, we are caught in a bind because our investors want this clearance before handing us the funds to complete construction of the track. Without this investment it will be difficult for us to move forward."Apart from the capital to lay the track, Sakuma said it would cost another €100 million ($173 million) a year to operate the 4km FIM Grade 1 and FIA Grade 2-certified race track.A karting circuit, a quarter-mile drag racing strip, a motor museum and 35,000 sq m of commercial space are also being planned for the motorsports hub. But the CPIB probe has spooked interested parties, especially those from Singapore, and the 46-year-old now plans to court investors from Japan and Europe.This could inevitably lead to the country's first permanent motor race track being under the total control of foreigners when completed at the end of the year.Said Sakuma: "If the funds do not come in soon, we are dead. We have a Project Delivery Agreement with the Singapore Government to complete construction of the track by the end of this year and we have no choice but to get funds from outside of Singapore, if this is what it takes for us to honour our agreement."
SG Changi admit they can't make Hub deadlineFuture of permanent race track cloudy, as some in industrytalk of a re-tenderby Ian De Cotta04:47 AM May 28, 2011SINGAPORE - The country's first permanent motor racing track could be heading for an unnatural death after its embattled developers admitted yesterday they would not be able to get the facility operational by the end of the year.SG Changi are also likely to default on another major milestone: To complete a 2,000-lot car park before the start of the Singapore Airshow 2012, scheduled from Feb 14 to 19, which will be held next to the facility.With prospects bleak for the consortium, some in the motor-racing industry feel even a re-tender is now possible, to ensure the Changi Motor Sports Hub project is fulfilled.Work at the 41-hectare site on the eastern tip of Singapore ground to a halt in January after SG Changi - they pipped two other challengers to win the bid to build and operate the S$380 million project in 2009 - could only pay S$6 million of an agreed advance payment to piling contractors CSC Holdings.They owe CSC Holdings S$8 million, which includes progressive claims for piling work on 1,000 of 6,000 points at the site.SG Changi can try to fulfil their contractual obligations but would require millions more pumped into the project. However, raising funds has been the problem for the consortium.Andrew Ujiie, the company's head of people innovations, admitted that after a four-month delay, the cost to get the 4km FIM Grade 1 and FIA Grade 2-certified track ready by December would be extremely high.Speaking to MediaCorp from the United States, where he is on a business trip, Ujiie said: "I think that is the reality. Although nothing is impossible, to get the track ready by the end of the year is now going to cost us a lot more."CSC, who were contracted to do piling work for a total of S$50 million, are hoping that if the Government in the end calls for a re-tender, they will be given "preferential consideration" if a new consortium takes over."We are weighing our options," said CSC president and group CEO See Yen Tarn. "Pulling out is one of them, but we are holding out for a better outcome. If a new consortium comes into the picture, we hope they will consider resuming work with us."Even with a new design, what has been piled into the land need not be yanked out and we will be able help them work things around."In March, MediaCorp reported that a group of interested parties had met SG Changi directors Fuminori Murahashi and Moto Sakuma, with a view to taking a share in the company.After submitting plans to considerably reduce the cost of building the Hub and hoping that the deadline for the project would be extended, the potential investors are moving cautiously."With the Sports Hub (at Kallang) allowed a delay, they were banking on the Singapore Sports Council (SSC) indicating they were open to extending the deadline for the permanent track as well," said a source close to the negotiations."Their plan hinges on this because at this stage, it is clear to everyone that the costs are going to be extremely high to meet the Motor Sports Hub objectives if the SSC stick to their guns."
Jul 16, 2011Changi Motorsports Hub problems pile upPiling contractor abandons Changi Motorsports Hub projectBy Chan U-GeneConstruction materials at the site. Workers were seen directing the piles to be loaded onto a truck which then transported them away yesterday. -- PHOTO: DESMOND LUI FOR THE STRAITS TIMESTHE construction of the beleaguered Changi Motorsports Hub, which is seen as the cornerstone of Singapore's future in the motorsports industry, has hit another major road block.Piling contractor CSC Holdings is abandoning the project and is believed to be seeking legal action against SG Changi - the consortium in charge - said a reliable source.
SINGAPORE - The axe has finally fallen on SG Changi, the consortium which was contracted to build Singapore's first permanent race track.Sources have told TODAY the Singapore Sports Council (SSC) has exercised its contractual rights and terminated the agreement with SG Changi.A formal announcement is expected later today, when the SSC is also expected to provide details of a new tender exercise that will see the Changi Motorsports Hub completed by 2014. The SSC had awarded the tender to SG Changi to build the hub in March last year but the consortium struggled to raise most of the estimated S$380 million needed to complete the project.The hub had been earmarked at a 41-ha site along Aviation Park Road and was supposed to be operational by the end of this month.But construction stopped in January after SG Changi could only pay CSC Holdings half of a S$10 million sum due in advance payment for piling work.SG Changi were unable to raise the funds to restart work and after they were issued with a show-cause notice by the SSC in late August, submitted a revised schedule to complete 80 per cent of the project by next June.In a last-ditch attempt to keep the project alive, SG Changi - headed by chairman Fuminori Murahashi and director Moto Sakuma - who had been scrambling to get investors on board and as of late last month, were negotiating with at least two parties from Malaysia and China. But the efforts were futile.They were also in talks with CSC two weeks ago to restart work but made no headway as they still owe the piling contractors around S$6.9 million.When contacted yesterday, CSC president and group CEO See Yen Tarn expressed disappointment at the turn of events.Mr See told Today he will wait for the official word before deciding on the next course of action."I am disappointed to see things end this way and will have to do what is right for CSC and our shareholders," he said. "We had hoped things would work out for SG Changi so that we could restart work and to be fair, I think Mr Fuminori tried very hard and did his best to raise the money."Mr See said CSC will keep tabs on the new tender exercise as they are still keen on the project.The first signs that SG Changi was in trouble surfaced when one of their original directors, Mr Thia Yoke Kian, was called up by the Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau (CPIB) in November last year to help in a probe into possible irregularities in the tender process.Mr Thia had led a team that featured former Japan Super GT driver Genji Hashimoto which beat Singapore Agro Agriculture and Haw Par Corporation for the tender to build the hub and run the facility - its main feature is a 4km track - on a 30-year lease.Not long after, Mr Hashimoto was replaced by Mr Sakuma. Three months ago, Mr Thia was removed as a director of SG Changi after failing to pay for the 35 per cent shares he owned in the consortium.
my paperThursday, May 17, 2012IT WILL take at least another year before any re-tendering process for the development of the land for the proposed Changi Motorsports Hub can proceed.By then, it is possible that the land may not be used for a motorsports hub after all. It is also possible that there might not even be a re-tendering process, if no viable ideas to develop the land are tabled.Such scenarios could play out as the Singapore Sports Council (SSC) embarks on a Request For Information (RFI) exercise from July to the end of the year.The exercise seeks to assess the level of interest and ideas among potential investors for a motorsports hub, or other sports and lifestyle concepts, at the 41ha site in Changi.Upon completion of the exercise, the SSC will decide whether to continue with the motorsports-hub project. Any re-tendering process would be launched only in the third quarter of next year.SSC announced the exercise as it signed the deed of termination on various issues related to the land on Tuesday with SG Changi, the consortium which failed to deliver the motorsports hub after winning the initial tender in March 2010.SSC chief executive Lim Teck Yin said: "The benefit of conducting the RFI exercise is that it allows the SSC to more accurately gauge the market's views on the range of ideas and feasible business models."We are keeping our options open for different sports-related concepts, whether motorsports or non-motorsports, to emerge."The SSC will take back the land from SG Changi today, officially ending an unsuccessful episode that saw the consortium run into numerous financial issues.It encountered various problems, including construction delays due to a lack of funds and a corruption probe into alleged irregularities in the tender process.Lim acknowledged that the SSC could have done more stringent checks on the financial strength of the consortium before awarding the tender bid.Still, he did not believe that the public's confidence in the SSC's ability to deliver large- scale development projects on time has been shaken."There was criticism that we could have pulled the plug earlier on SG Changi," he said."But at all times, we have tried to safeguard public interest: No public funds were spent, this was purely a private-sector project."hankeong@sph.com.sg
