Projects & Pitfalls – Sports, Water, Energy & FIDIC
The inaugural Youth Olympic Games hosted by Singapore in August last year left a positive impression on Singapore’s young guests. The fanfare would have been much bigger had the Singapore Sports Hub been available for the event.
At an estimated cost of S$1.33 billion, the new Sports Hub will boast a 55,000-seater retractable roof stadium, a 6,000-capacity Indoor Aquatic Centre, a 3,000-capacity Multi-Purpose Arena and a Water Sports Centre.
Despite the tender being awarded by the Singapore government in 2008, the PPP project commenced construction only in September 2010 – the result of delays from the 2008-2009 global financial crisis and high construction costs. It is now expected to [...]
The Rise of Asia-based International Arbitration
The 2010 International Arbitration Survey by the School of International Arbitration at Queen Mary College, University of London, represents one of the largest empirical studies ever undertaken of corporate attitudes and practices regarding international arbitration. The focus – key factors influencing corporate decisions on international arbitration.
The 2010 survey sees a much broadened territorial scope to include emerging venues such as Singapore together with the established venues of London, Paris, Switzerland and New York.
The key factors influencing international arbitration identified by the survey are not surprising – governing law, seat of arbitration, choice of arbitral insti [...]
Singapore’s International Flavour to Construction and Arbitration
I had a great meal in an ethnic Indian restaurant recently and was pleasantly surprised to discover that the cook was an overseas Chinese!
The construction industry, like the food and beverage business, shows considerable partiality to foreign workers. The most common reason – lower labour costs. Thus, the construction industry is filled with foreign workers running the gamut from India, Sri Lanka, China, Thailand, Indonesia, Philippines and even Myanmar.
Things however look set to change with the 2010 budget announcement including a call to increase local productivity as foreign workers now comprise almost a third of the total workforce. This has led to government moves to reduce dependence [...]
Lean Green Venture
First for the “Lean” – the Singapore International Arbitration Centre (SIAC) Rules 2010 came into effect on 1 July 2010.
This third edition replaces the SIAC Rules 2007 and is part of SIAC’s efforts to stay lean and effective as it keeps apace with the rapid growth of international arbitration.
Key updates include an expedited arbitration procedure for claim amounts less than S$5 m or in cases of exceptional urgency. The expedited process requires an award to be issued within six months from the tribunal being constituted and the reasons for the award may be in “summary form” under the expedited procedure.
Also new to the Rules are the inclusion of a new rule on interim and emergency r [...]
Gambling with Sand(s)
Offer my wife a diamond and you’ll see her eyes sparkle and a warm smile light up her face. I certainly wouldn’t take a gamble on offering her sand instead with a patient explanation that diamonds are actually compressed sand.
The worth of “sands” in Singapore has taken on added dimensions in recent years given the republic’s dependence on imported sand from its neighbours for its thriving construction needs. Much hullabaloo has similarly been generated on the newsfront with the phased opening of two casinos, one of which happens to share the namesake of Marina Bay Sands.
Singapore’s construction demand in 2010 is projected to reach between S$21 billion and $27 billion this year [...]
