M’sia, Singapore officiate RM33 bln joint project
KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia’s and Singapore’s prime ministers yesterday officiated two awardwinning projects in the island city that were successfully completed under a historic partnership between the two nations’ sovereign investment funds.
Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak and his Singaporean counterpart Lee Hsien Loong officially opened the Marina One and DUO projects worth S$11 billion (RM32.9 billion).
Both projects are touted to be Singapore’s next iconic landmarks.
“The successful completion and official opening of Marina One and DUO, worth a combined S$11 billion in gross development value, are the result of mutually beneficial cooperation between Malaysia and Singapore, arising from the two countries’ strong and longstanding bilateral relationship,” Malaysia’s sovereign investment fund Khazanah Nasional said in a press statement yesterday.
Khazanah and Singapore’s state-owned investment firm Temasek Holdings (Private) Limited had closely collaborated on the two projects through M+S Pte Ltd, with the two respectively holding a stake of 60 per cent and 40 per cent in the joint-venture company formed in 2011.
Khazanah’s managing director Tan Sri Azman Mokhtar when commenting on the projects said: “The successful delivery of the world-class joint development projects by Khazanah and Temasek demonstrates what we can achieve through strong collaboration and partnership that leverage the strengths and complementarities of our two countries, in this instance the collective strengths and competitive value propositions of Iskandar Malaysia and Singapore”.
In the same statement, Temasek International chief executive officer Lee Theng Kiat said the completion of the two M+S projects in Singapore — Marina One and DUO — “marks a significant milestone” in the joint developments with Khazanah.
“This was supported by the strong partnership and smooth collaboration between both the Khazanah and Temasek teams. We look forward to the continued success of the projects,” he added.
Marina One is located in Marina South or the heart of a new financial district in Marina Bay, and will be connected to four out of six Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) lines.
The Marina One development counts as its neighbours the iconic Marina Bay Sands, Gardens by the Bay and Singapore’s national performing arts centre The Esplanade.
Marina One features 1.88 million square feet of Grade A office space in two towers, 140,000 square feet of retail space and two residential blocks with a total 1,042 units on four parcels of land.
As for the DUO development in the Ophir-Rochor area, it will be connected to the Bugis MRT station and is part of the arts, cultural, educational and entertainment hub of Bugis.
The DUO’s website advertised its location to be a 15-minute drive from Changi Airport and to be five minutes away from Singapore’s Central Business District, shopping hub Orchard Road and Marina Bay.
The DUO development, built on two parcels of land, comprises a 39-storey commercial tower with 568,000 square feet of Grade A office space, 56,000 square feet of restaurants and retail space, a 49-storey residential tower with 660 premium units, and a five-star hotel with over 340 rooms.
Both projects have won awards and recognition including for sustainability and environmentally-friendly designs, including the Singapore Building and Construction Authority (BCA) Green Mark Platinum and Gold ratings.
According to Khazanah, there has been strong market interest in the two developments, noting that both have already recorded significant take-up rates for their residential and commercial space and have also secured key anchor tenants including multinational firms.
The two projects came after Malaysia and Singapore’s September 2010 land swap deal, with Malaysia previously agreeing to exchange vacate three plots of land then held by railway operator Keretapi Tanah Melayu (KTM) Berhad in Tanjong Pagar, Kranji and Woodlands and three parcels of Bukit Timah land for the six plots of land where DUO and Marina One are located.