Kristle Koh, who suffers from asthma, is one unlikely golfer.

Wrong. Even more remarkable, the Raffles Junior College student has a handicap of just two.

She said: ‘I still break out in rashes, even though I wear slacks on the greens. It helps that golf is rather sedentary because strenuous activities can trigger asthmatic attacks in me.’

But she perseveres. Her love for the game has become ‘an integral part’ of her.

It keeps the 16-year-old going despite itching, bleeding skin, and the occasional asthmatic attacks.

At age 11, barely a year after her father Koh Song Chuang had introduced her to the sport, Kristle represented Singapore in the Callaway Junior World Golf Championships.

It is the same tournament that Tiger Woods had previously won three straight times.

Then came her first taste of victory in the 2002 Schools National Golf Championships, followed by another title in the C Division of the Singapore Junior Golf Invitational Championships.

Now, Kristle is hoping to make her South-east Asia Games debut in Thailand at the end of the year after emerging as the individual runner-up in the recent Asean Schools Championships in Manila.

She lost to Thailand’s Dolnapa Phudthitipinj in the play-off. Both had finished on one-over 289 after four rounds.

She also teamed up with Kok Jo Ee, Stephanie Loi and Koh Sock Hwee to give the Republic another silver behind champions Thailand.

Lamented Kristle: ‘I was disappointed with my individual performance. I could have won had I not miscalculated my putt and hit it with insufficient force.

‘I was affected by the crowd and succumbed to nerves and self-inflicted pressure.’

It was not a first for the bubbly teen. She has had to make emergency toilet excursions before tee-offs owing to sudden bouts of diarrhoea induced by anxiety.

Neither does it help that she is somewhat clumsy. A lamp in her family’s Dairy Farm apartment is missing two glass panes after she smashed it while practising her swing.

She also once spent 10 minutes on the ground, winded after being hit in the stomach by a golf ball despite hearing a ‘fore!’ warning.

During the interview, she brandished Robert K. Winters’ book on The Commandments Of Mindpower Golf. It is her new aid in sharpening her concentration and building nerves of steel.

Said Kristle: ‘I’m working on being mentally stronger and more focused. I want to be in the SEA Games team and be the first female golfer to bring back a medal since Kee Bee Khim’s silver in 1991.

‘I’m also considering turning professional. My ultimate dream is to play on the United States Ladies Professional Golf Association circuit.

‘I give myself another six years or so to achieve that.’

Her coach, Skye Neal, director of instruction at David Leadbetter Golf Academy, is confident that his charge will achieve her targets.

‘Her shots are accurate, she’s got a good swing, and she just keeps getting better. I’ve every faith in her.’

Source:
Paper: Straits Times, The (Singapore)
Date: June 29, 2007

Making it world class has been the goal of the organisers, since the Open returned in 2005 after a three-year hiatus.

To that end, they have announced a slew of developments for this year’s edition – chief of which sees three-time Major winner Vijay Singh making his debut.

But the one name even non-golf fans had been hoping for – world No1 Tiger Woods – has yet to be pencilled in for Sentosa’s Serapong course from Nov 1-4.

The confirmed field features three players in the world’s top 10, up from two last year and one in 2005.

Two-time defending champion, the world No 4 Adam Scott, will be gunning for a rare hat-trick.

He will be joined by world No 5 Ernie Els and No6 Vijay, who are no strangers to Singapore shores.

The South African was last year’s runner-up. The Fijian Vijay, who won the US Tour season-opener, the Mercedes-Benz Championship, has played in previous Singapore Masters.

Former US Open winner Michael Campbell, European Ryder Cup hero Darren Clarke and the flamboyant Japanese Shingo Katayama have also confirmed.

The US$4 million (S$6.2million) purse is up from last year’s US$3 million.

That makes it Asia’s richest national Open, followed by the US$2 million China and Hong Kong Opens.

The US Open, which ended on June 17, had a US$7million purse, while last year’s British Open offered &pound4million (S$12.3 million).

The organisers will also hold an overseas regional qualifier in Japan on Oct 1 – a first for any tournament in Asia.

‘This will make it a step closer to being a truly open Open,’ said Graham Bell, the organising committee’s chairman, yesterday.

The qualifier, at the Shinyo Country Club near Nagoya, will offer a minimum of two slots, while another at Sentosa’s Tanjong Course (Oct 29 to 30) will offer at least eight places.

But there will be no slots reserved for local pros.

‘They’ll have to qualify just like everyone else,’ said Bell. ‘It’ll be a meritocratic system, just like the US and British Opens.’

But the question on everyone’s lips is this: Will Woods will finally grace the event?

Said Bell: ‘It’s no secret that we want him to come. He’s said before that he’d be happy to come here.

‘But, as everyone knows, he’s just had a new priority and focus in life – his new baby.’

The American became a father on Monday, when wife Elin gave birth to their daughter, Sam Alexis.

‘His schedule for the second half of the year is not firmed up yet. We’re in constant talks with his people.’

If he comes, he will be playing a refurbished Serapong, which is undergoing a $12 million revamp in both course design and greens technology.

Participants can expect faster and more challenging greens, new bunkers and a longer course of 6,710 yards from the championship tee – up from 6,565 previously.

In comparison, the Buick Open – the US Tour event at Warwick Hills, Michigan, this week – plays to 7,127 yards.

Spectators, too, will benefit from the renovation.

For example, the clearing of trees and widening of buggy paths will enhance their viewing experience and access.

A new permanent double-storey Serapong pavilion, with panoramic views of the 9th and 18th holes, is also being built.

All the better to see the stars and action with.

‘Ernie and Vijay are big stars and should capture the imagination of the public,’ said Asian Tour executive chairman and former pro, Kyi Hla Han.

‘Vijay started by practising and playing in this region, so it’s great that he’s returning here.’

The event will be a US$5-million one next year, putting it on par with around half of the US Tour events.

And bringing Woods to Sentosa will certainly attract the fans, and enhance the Singapore Open’s claim to being ‘The Major of Asia’.

Source:
Paper: Straits Times, The (Singapore)
Date: June 28, 2007

The new Seletar Aerospace Park will have a bigger airport and a longer runway, to handle larger aircraft.

New roads, better infrastructure and more than 100 football fields of space will also be available to the cluster of companies that design and manufacture aircraft components and small jets, as well as run training schools.

The park will be developed at a cost of more than $60 million. When completed by 2018, it will create 10,000 jobs and help double the output of Singapore’s fast-growing aerospace sector, from last year’s record $6.3 billion.

The need for the park was clear, said Mr Leong Hong Yew, JTC Corporation’s deputy director for industrial development (East).

Aerospace activities are now carried out in Loyang and Changi North, but space is fast running out there, he explained.

In finalising the masterplan for Seletar, however, his team retained, as much as possible, the idyllic, tranquil nature of the area with its more than 300 black-and-white colonial bungalows, old trees and open fields.

He said: ‘This is not going to be another run-of-the-mill industrial park.’

Of the 378 black-and-white bungalows in the area, 204 will be retained.

Some will be converted into aerospace training schools and food and beverage outlets, while 131 units will be set aside for residential use.

He said: ‘The houses will be retained and conserved so the ambience of the environment is maintained.’

For the same reason, more than 30 distinctive trees will not be cut down, he said.

The plans have been received well by industry, with one-fifth of the 120ha set aside for commercial use already booked.

The first few tenants are expected to move in to their new premises in October, said Mr Leong.

Among the front runners are Singapore Technologies Aerospace and Jet Aviation, both with plans to expand their current facilities at Seletar.

For Jet Aviation, the location and timing made sense. Vice-president and general manager for Asia, Mr Michael Sattler, said: ‘Singapore is a very good location and offers many advantages. The upcoming integrated resorts are also expected to attract more corporate and business jets here.’

Residents in the area were also briefed on the plans last night.

For some families there was good news, as they were told their homes were not affected and they will have the option to extend their current leases which expire at the end of next year, for a further two years.

After that, it will be up to the Singapore Land Authority which owns the land, to decide on future plans for the area.

The rest will have to move out when their leases expire next year.

There was some excitement at Seletar Base Golf Course where the briefing was held, when a few residents including children, turned up with signs protesting against the plans.

But it ended without incident.

Sales manager Jacqueline Tan, 38, who will have to move out of Seletar after living there for three years, will miss the greenery and close neighbours.

She said: ‘This place is unique… You can’t find a place like this in Singapore. It’s also a very close-knit community here. Everyone knows everyone.’

It was a reponse Mr Leong had anticipated.

‘We tried our best to balance the needs of industry and community, and at the same time attempted to integrate the surroundings of the area into the plan… But there will be some who will not be happy,’ he said.

Source:
Paper: Straits Times, The (Singapore)
Date: June 27, 2007

Source:
Paper: Business Times, The (Singapore)
Date: June 27, 2007

First, Singapore’s top amateur is a hopeless ‘old-fashioned romantic’.

To woo a girl on Valentine’s Day, which coincides with his birthday, he would take her to a seaside restaurant, ‘pick a table with the best view, and with love songs playing in the background’.

Despite his romantic streak, Choo, 20, is still ‘single and available’.

The second instance where ‘hopeless’ applies is his grasp of Mandarin.

As a Braddell-Westlake Secondary schoolboy, he used to hide his Mandarin homework on top of his cupboard as he was ‘too lazy to do it’.

‘I can speak Mandarin. But if you ask me to read and write it, that’s my major handicap,’ he said.

Handicaps, though, do not apply to Choo in golf.

The 2005 South-east Asia Games bronze medallist is believed to be the first Singaporean to earn a full golf scholarship in the United States.

In September, he will leave for Seattle’s University of Washington (UW).

The UW scholarship is worth over US$30,000 (S$46,000) a year. It covers his tuition, training and competition expenses. He will foot his own living expenses.

He will compete in the inter-varsity National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) championship, which counts Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson as former champions.

UW were ninth in the NCAA team event last year and third in 2005.

‘I’m looking forward to a new start, a new life, a new environment,’ he said. ‘It’s a dream come true.’

His fairy tale began at age six when he picked up golf after following his businessman father, Choo Kok Chung, 59, to the driving range.

In his junior debut in 1999, he won the Under-12 Sports Excel event in Kuala Lumpur.

After a slew of local and regional junior titles, the scratch golfer caught the eye of UW recruiters when he finished third in the 2004 Callaway Junior World Championships in San Diego.

He said: ‘When I was younger, I would write my goals on a piece of paper and review them every few months.

‘After I started working with my Thai coach Boonyarit Uasilapasart in 2001, my game improved dramatically.

‘I shocked myself, but it was a good thing. I became more confident.’

His proudest moment came when he won the 2005 Singapore Open Amateur Championship, ending the Republic’s 16-year barren spell in the annual event.

Last December, he cried after failing to clinch Singapore’s first Asian Games golf medal. He finished joint-third, but lost the bronze on countback.

The ‘worst moment’ was when he soiled his pants owing to a tummy ache during the final round of an event in 2000.

The sporting fraternity has nicknamed the 1.80-metre tall golfer, who weighs 108 kg, ‘Fatty Choo’.

‘It’s okay,’ he said. ‘ I’m a very jovial person. You can call me anything.’

His dream pairings?

‘Singapore Idol’s Jasmine Tai, and actresses Fiona Xie and Vicky Zhao,’ he quipped, before adding: ‘Tiger Woods and Ernie Els.’

His weakness is anger management, but he has no intention of revealing how many clubs he has broken.

‘These days, I just smile it off after a bad shot,’said the golfer, whose 283.4-yard driving average ranks him in the top 106 in the PGA Tour.

Singapore’s No 2 pro, Lam Chih Bing, says Choo’s strengths are his composure in big events and ability to string consistent good rounds.

National coach Kim Baldwin feels it is his work ethic and strong desire and ambition that set him apart.

The Australian recalled last year’s Putra Cup in Papua New Guinea, where Singapore had a shaky start.

Team officials had told the players to rest in their hotel rooms, but Choo stayed back to practise. Soon, his teammates joined him.

Singapore eventually took the team title and Choo the individual crown – the third Singaporean to do the double after Phua Thin Kiay (1967) and Mardan Mamat (1993).

‘His golf swing is not technically perfect. But, like Arnold Palmer, he’s learnt to play damn good golf with those limitations,’ added Baldwin.

Palmer’s unorthodox swing – a fundamentally flawed hack at the ball with a pronounced hip turn and awkward follow through – earned him 60 PGA Tour wins including seven Majors in six years.

Baldwin noted that Choo has ‘the best short game in Singapore’, but said the golfer could improve further within that 80m to 100m distance from the green.

He added: ‘There’s no facility in Singapore to practise his short game.

‘But when he goes to Washington, that wouldn’t be a problem.’

Asian Tour executive chairman and former pro Kyi Hla Han said: ‘He has a really good all-round game, but needs to refine it.

‘It’s good that he’s going to the US. When he’s done, his game will be ready and he can decide if he wants to turn pro.’
Source:
Paper: Straits Times, The (Singapore)
Date: June 26, 2007

Liang Wen-chong, China’s number one player, who currently leads this year’s Asian Tour’s UBS Order of Merit with almost US$450,000, has set his sights on eventually playing on the US PGA Tour, as that is where the world’s top players in the world compete on a regular basis. ‘It’s like the premier league for golf and is one of my goals,’ he said in a recent interview.

Yet, while these tours may hold an attraction for players from this part of the world, they are not necessarily a walk in the park, with golfers having to adapt to a number of conditions. ‘The courses in Europe are different compared with Asia,’ says Liang.

‘Some are longer and the grasses are different, which can make it more challenging especially on the greens for putting. You really need to study them.’ He also finds the weather a problem. ‘It can be very unpredictable in the UK. I needed a winter knitted hat to practise there last time because of the cold wind. You need to be careful how you pack and bring enough layers.’

Singapore No 1 Mardan Mamat, who finished second in the recent Wales Open, agrees, saying: ‘The weather is too cold for me and it affects my game a lot. When it’s below 14 degrees Celsius I can’t feel anything in my hands.’

Last year’s Asian Tour UBS Order of Merit winner Jeev Milkha Singh, who is playing in the US and Europe more this year, survived the cut in this year’s US Masters and recent US Open at Oakmont. He is another who doesn’t find it a pushover.

‘It is a far greater challenge for me knowing that at most events, especially in the US, the world’s top players are in the field. The course conditions vary considerably between Europe and the US. In the US they tend to tuck the pins away and the greens are much firmer. The weather obviously makes a big difference being normally colder, windy and more rain in Europe.’

Singh adds: ‘For me, the main challenge is being able to perform well in what I term ‘The Big League’. There is much room for improvement but, saying that, I am happy with how I have performed in the Major events up to now, and accept that I am very much still on the learning curve.’

Even though there are obvious playing condition differences, the courses nevertheless get the thumbs up. Singh enjoys the challenge of pitting himself against the best in the world, playing on different courses and varying weather conditions. For Mardan, it’s the tiptop condition of the courses and the fact that a courtesy car is provided for every tournament. Gripes include being away from family, constant travelling, and battling the different time zones.

Yet, while the top echelon golfers in their respective countries or regional tours may be going on to bigger and better things with their promotion into the bigger leagues, what happens to their original spawning ground? Does it take a dent in terms of losing players or, perhaps worse, its identity, or is there enough talent coming up through the ranks to ensure a healthy turnover?

Dominique Boulet, a regular golf broadcaster with Asian Tour Productions, and a former Japan, Australia, South African and Asian Tour player, believes that while the lure of the US PGA Tour is considerable, it shouldn’t pose too much of a problem.

‘A lot of our players have starts in Europe but still play the majority of their tournaments on the Asian Tour, due to many factors like language, food, weather etc,’ he says.

‘Talent wise, there are so many young Thai, Indian, Taiwanese and Chinese players coming through, and we’ll have more and more talent coming through in the next five years or so. The future is looking very bright for the Asian Tour.’

Asian Tour executive chairman Kyi Hla Han agrees. ‘While the Asian Tour players will better their careers in Europe, they do miss home and will come back to support the tour.’

He adds: ‘There is a back-up of players springing up right now and there’s no shortage of talent in Asia.

It’s encouraging to see the Asian golf associations putting junior golf development on their priority list, and introducing young golfers, who will turn professional eventually, into national teams.’

Mardan acknowledges that he has to spend a little bit of time in Europe this year as he has the opportunity to do so. ‘It’s good for Asian Tour players to build themselves up and have that opportunity to play on both the US PGA and European Tours, yet I don’t think we’ll lose them,’ he says. ‘Wherever they go, they still come back and play in the tournaments on the Asian Tour.’

Singh says: ‘I don’t think there will be a talent drain as such, because all players strive to play on the bigger Tours of Europe and the US and we in Asia are seeing more and more younger players coming through to replace us older guys. I can only speak for myself, and I want to be a global player but will always come back to Asia and continue to support the Tours that I started my career on.

‘I would love to qualify to play on the PGA Tour, but I would only want to play the minimum number of events there so that I can continue to be a global player.’

According to Liang, the ‘drain’ is more like a drip and is not a concern. ‘Many Asian players who are on the other Tours always seem to make a point to come back to various events. I have played many tournaments in China this year, which is of course important for supporting the progress there,’ he says. ‘Winning the UBS Order of Merit is a goal I have set for myself and so I will have more events to play in Asia again later in the year. And, with more events, there’s actually more incentive to stay in Asia longer and gain the confidence and resources to challenge the world.

‘I think it also helps to showcase the talent that exists in Asia to the rest of the world. It was comforting to be in the players’ lounge at Wentworth recently and to say hello to Thai players like Chapchai and Thaworn, also Mardan and Indians Shiv Kapur, Jeev and Jyoti Randhawa. ‘It also raises the bar in Asia golf and challenges players by giving local heroes to live up to and to show them that you need to dream big because it can be possible with hard work. I think there’s still plenty of room for more Asians to join the European Tour and certainly in America on the US PGA Tour.’

Source:
Paper: Business Times, The (Singapore)
Date: June 23, 2007

Over the past 15 years, young professionals have been carving out a space for those who prefer their weekend exercise to be more intense than a round of golf, working hard to establish amateur leagues and teams for sports like football, basketball and softball.

For example, Lee Taylor and Matthew Boylen, co-founders and directors ESPZen, an amateur football league, say that they started it for ‘selfish reasons’. ‘Lee and I were playing for our respective company football clubs in a local Singapore league,’ says Mr Boylen, who is also the chief executive of IT solution company Matador System Pte Ltd. ‘But it wasn’t well organised. Sometimes, the referee wouldn’t show up, or we would play the same team for four weeks.’

Their love and respect for the game made them want to play in a ‘professionally organised way’, which subsequently led to the birth of ESPZen.

For Ashish Manchharam, founder of the Usual Suspects, a two-year-old team comprised of mostly young professionals – about 90 per cent, he says – that plays in the ESPZen league, organising a team was a way to stay close to childhood friends and keep fit.

‘For me, it’s more social than competitive. Most of the team members are people I have grown up with,” says Mr Manchharam, an associate director of leading property consultancy Jones Lang LaSalle. ‘Also, when I have clients and friends in town, I ask them to come play.’

From its humble beginnings of about 10 teams in 2004, ESPZen currently boasts 78 teams. And with a fee of $2,100 per team per season, what began as two yuppies wanting to play football on a well-manicured pitch has become quite a lucrative side business.

‘The incredible success of ESPZen made us realise that there were a lot of people who wanted to play sports in a professionally organised environment,’ says Mr Boylen. ‘So we applied the same business model to basketball, another extremely popular sport in Singapore.’

The result was BBAXN, another highly successful amateur league launched in 2005.

While basketball is well known to be physically demanding, Brewerkz Iguanas Basketball – a team which plays in the BBAXN league and has won four championships in a row – has players ranging in age from mid-20s to late-40s. While there haven’t been any major injuries, ‘some guys have torn ligaments in their knees, thus requiring surgery’, reveals David Blackmon, head legal counsel for Shell in Asia, who plays with the Iguanas and used to manage them.

He sees the ethnically diverse team – comprising mostly young professionals with nationalities that run the gamut from Filipino to Belgian – as ‘ambassadors for the sport’ that ‘bridges local and expat communities’.

Older, more established leagues and teams are also gathering momentum. Harris Vertlieb, marketing director of Maverick, started the Singapore River Rats softball team 15 years ago, and has witnessed the growth in the international community of professionals who play the sport, thanks to several competitions over the years in Jakarta, Bangkok and Manila.

‘I have definitely expanded my contacts,’ says Mr Vertlieb. ‘I met a guy from the Philippines and we are currently partners in a joint business venture; I’m sure other players have had similar opportunities. I also know of numerous occasions where people have been hired through softball contacts.’

Instrumental to sports-oriented networking is the socialising that occurs outside the tournaments and practices. ‘We play hard, and party hard,’ says Bharat Chopra, an independent sports marketer, who plays on both the Iguanas and the River Rats. Last year, Mr Chopra was able to combine his passion for partying and higher-impact sport by creating the Singapore Dodgeball Championships.

Far less regulated than older sports, the more casual nature of dodgeball allowed for equal amounts of revelry and exercise. What began as a tournament among 50 people has become a full-fledged event; with the help of B-Yond Sports, a division of the B-Yond lifestyle company, the Dodgeball Championships became a huge $75,000 event, complete with DJ and bar.

This new era of sports is miles away from golf, the traditional sport standby for young professionals. Now, there are several ways to meet and develop friendships in the business world, and they don’t require a handicap or exorbitant green fees.

This rise in popularity and availability of more democratic, team sports signals the emergence of a different kind of weekend, one that is more aggressive, louder, and dirtier, much like the younger workforce that they cater to.

Source:
Paper: Business Times, The (Singapore)
Date: June 22, 2007

Nora Azman, a 51-year-old managing director, is just one of many professional career woman who are taking up the sport here.

This week, Urban chats with her and two others who are competing at the Her World Golf Challenge Asian Series tomorrow.

We also feature some of the sassiest golfing outfits and accessories in the market. So you can no longer say golf is for fuddy-duddies.

Elsewhere in the issue, we report on the shocking trend of teenage boys in the United States developing man boobs – and resorting to surgery to correct it.

We also speak to Jacob Arabo, a flamboyant jeweller who counts Madonna and Justin Timberlake as fans.

Don’t miss Urban, which comes with The Straits Times every Thursday.

Source:
Paper: Straits Times, The (Singapore)
Date: June 21, 2007

THE executive director of Transview Holdings has sold his entire shareholding in the golfing equipment distributor.

Mr Lim Teng Neng sold his remaining deemed stake of 1.1 million shares on Tuesday.

According to a Singapore Exchange filing, he sold 750,000 shares at an average price of 46.5 cents each, and another 350,000 shares at 46 cents apiece.

A day earlier, Mr Lim sold 946,000 shares on the open market at 47.24 cents each, the same day that Transview’s stock price hit an all-time high of 47.5 cents.

His two-day sale would have netted him about $956,600. It comes just days after the firm said its net profit for the half-year ended April 30 declined 3 per cent to $838,000 – as a result of a fall in golf management and other revenues.

Total revenue for Transview, which operates driving ranges in Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand, was also down 3 per cent at $15.5 million.

However, the company’s prospects look set to improve as Transview announced plans last month to expand in the Persian Gulf region and the Middle East.

It also appointed a new key shareholder and chairman, Sheikh Faisal F.J.Al-Thani, from Qatar.

Sheikh Faisal’s investment vehicle, Gulf Asia Pacific Equity Fund, has agreed to take a 5 per cent stake in Transview.

Transview shares shed a cent to 44.5 cents yesterday, with more than 2.2 million units changing hands.

Source:
Paper: Straits Times, The (Singapore)
Date: June 21, 2007

Sri Tanjung Pinang, Penang’s biggest seafront development, will involve reclaiming not only the land on the headland along Tanjong Takong but also a cluster of man-made islands adjoining the headland linked by a series of bridges.

Developer E&O intends to build about 3,000 units comprising roughly a third of landed, condominium and low to medium-cost units over the two-phase ‘multi-island and headland’ development spanning 15 years.

Nearly a third of the landed units have been launched under the current Phase 1 headland development, which covers some 100-ha and whose estimated gross development value is RM2.6 billion (S$1.16 billion). About 85 per cent has already been sold.

‘A lot of money has been spent on reclamation, but cost isn’t something I’d like to get into,’ said E&O director of marketing & sales K C Chong.

What Mr Chong did want to go into greater detail during a media familiarisation trip to the project site earlier this month was the project’s potential. Malaysian real estate is still some of the region’s cheapest and the exemption of real property gains tax has spurred interest.

Despite the scarcity of land in Penang – seafront developments usually sell at a premium – Sri Tanjung Pinang is still affordable, Mr Chong said.A freehold two-and-a-half storey courtyard terrace home of some 3,345 sq ft is priced from about RM800,000 onwards. Prices have appreciated since last year when they were launched at around the RM750,000 mark.

The majority of buyers are from Penang and Kuala Lumpur. Twenty per cent of purchasers are foreigners from Singapore, Scandinavia, Britain and Australia, some of whom intend to settle down in Penang under the Malaysia My Second Home programme.

Mr Chong said the open-air courtyard concept, tropical architecture and 11-ft high ceilings are attractive propositions to foreign buyers. Designed by international architects Wimberly Allison Tong & Goo, Sri Tanjung Pinang has many features which take into account the expectations of international investors.

Commercial blocks, retail precincts, schools, parks, a marina and other social amenities form the rest of Phase 1. But perhaps the greater excitement lies in Phase 2 where three to four man-made islands of 300ha would be reclaimed. The current intention is to build high-rise commercial to low-density residential units, a 5-star hotel and boutique resort, a championship golf course, marina beach clubs and seafront residences with private berths.

‘The farthest house from the water stage is less than 800 metres,’ observed the company’s project director (planning and business development) Mohd Razeek Hussain, who walked media through the sand replacement method which was the reclamation technique used in the headland development six years ago.

E&O Property plans to submit its Phase 2 plans soon and expects regulatory approval in two years. Sri Tanjung Pinang is located not far from the famous Gurney Drive and the proposed Penang Outer Ring Road highway would run along the reclaimed headland.

Source:
Paper: Business Times, The (Singapore)
Date: June 19, 2007