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  Business Times 9 Feb 07
Issues over sand won't impede IR schedule
Company has built in contingency for unforeseen costs
By Arthur Sim

Straits Times 3 Feb 07
IRs 'on track' despite sand, probity concerns
Las Vegas Sands and Genting International say building works are going as scheduled
By Krist Boo & Marcel Lee Pereira

Channel NewsAsia 2 Feb 07
Sand ban from Indonesia not significantly affecting IR construction
By May Wong

Today Online 3 Feb 07
Sand 'glitch' won't hurt IR construction
Two operators say work schedules on track, Govt helping to secure supply
Lee U-Wen u-wen@mediacorp.com.sg

THE Indonesian blanket ban on sand exports, coupled with the impending rise in prices, is unlikely to set back the construction of the Marina Bay Sands integrated resort (IR).

Just days before its groundbreaking ceremony on Thursday, the casino operator confirmed that its budget would not be affected, and said it expects the Government to help it secure alternative sources of sand.

Construction work on the other IR — Genting International's Resorts World at Sentosa — could begin as early as April if all goes according to plan. On Friday, the Government gave its reassurance that the permanent ban on sand is unlikely to have any long-term impact on the construction industry.

Even as land sand is being transported to Singapore from a regional source outside Indonesia, Minister of State for National Development Grace Fu promised that sand would be released from the country's stockpile to ensure sufficient amounts to go around.

She said on Friday: "The imported sand has arrived in batches and we have seen good supply from alternative sources." She also described the impact of sand costs on a construction project as small "if you look at the entire project cost, including land cost".

Meanwhile, Marina Bay Sands project director John Downs said the unexpected ban caused a four-day delay in operations last week, but this would not have an impact on the construction schedule.

"Hopefully, this is just a temporary glitch. We don't have any extra budget set aside at the moment specifically for sand," he told reporters on the sidelines of the Asean Tourism Forum on Friday. The groundbreaking will launch construction work into full swing until the expected completion in late 2009.

The operator has already awarded a temporary construction contract to Bachy Soletanche Singapore, and is expected to sign some piling contracts next week. "We've done the basic enabling works, secured the site perimeter, and done soil investigation and test piling works. Everything is moving ahead smoothly," said Mr Downs.

Resorts World at Sentosa, too, is largely unconcerned about the sand ban. "We have a sufficient stockpile for now, and we are working with the Building and Construction Authority to get more supplies," said the operator's assistant director for communications Jackson Loy.

Meanwhile, cost-sharing arrangements are being put in place to help both private and public construction projects. Ms Fu said the Government would bear some of the cost of increased sand prices used in public facilities, while the Real Estate Developers Association of Singapore is in favour of footing part of the higher bill for private developers.

Channel NewsAsia 2 Feb 07
Sand ban from Indonesia not significantly affecting IR construction
By May Wong

SINGAPORE: Indonesia's ban on the supply of land sand will not affect the construction of the two Integrated Resorts significantly according to the two operators, Las Vegas Sands and the Genting International-Star Cruises consortium.

At a presentation on the resorts at the ASEAN Tourism Forum, Genting International has also confirmed that Macau casino mogul, Stanley Ho will not have a stake in the Sentosa IR project.

The government had questioned Genting International, the winning bidder for the Sentosa IR project about its links with Macau's casino billionaire, Stanley Ho, when talk surfaced that he could possibly have an interest in the resort here.

However, all that came to nought when it confirmed on Friday that "Mr Ho will not be having an interest in the Resorts World at Sentosa project."

The next hot question was whether the recent stop in supply of Indonesian sand will disrupt the IR projects. Genting International says it will work closely with the Building and Construction Authority on this issue and should be ready to break ground in a few months.

Declining an on-camera interview, Genting's Jackson Loy says "the government has made known that there's sufficient stock-pile and therefore, we do not think that it will be an issue."

The Marina Bay Sands IR operator also hopes the sand issue is just a temporary glitch. "Our supply of concrete resumes in the course of this week, so hopefully, that's behind us now.

We had three or four days of disruption last week, we're just getting back up to speed so I don't think in terms of long term, hopefully in the long term, it won't impact us in terms of costs," said John Downs, Project Director, Marina Bay Sands.

The Marina Bay Sands Integrated Resort will hold its ground breaking ceremony next week, and over there at its site, construction is already well-underway. Next year, the company says construction will focus mainly on work underground. But everything is on schedule for its opening in 2009.

"In terms of construction progress, we've been doing basic enabling work, we've secured the perimeter of the site, we've established a temporary site office down there, we've done some soil investigation works, we've done some test-piling works, and basic management of the site area. We're basically getting ourselves prepared now with temporary utilities to get underway in full swing with permanent construction elements," said Downs.

When asked about a sea wall underground that could pose as a construction challenge at Marina, Mr Downs points out that working on reclaimed land is not easy, but the contractors are dealing with it. - CNA /dt

Straits Times 3 Feb 07
IRs 'on track' despite sand, probity concerns
Las Vegas Sands and Genting International say building works are going as scheduled
By Krist Boo & Marcel Lee Pereira

NO DELAYS, our projects are on track. The assurance was given by Singapore's two integrated resorts (IRs) yesterday, despite flutters over the supply of sand for concrete and a government probe into one of them.

Senior staff of the IRs were speaking to journalists at a presentation to the international media on the last day of the Asean Tourism Forum.

Marina Bay Sands said it is keeping to its construction schedule and budget for now, despite Indonesia's abrupt ban on sand exports and the surprise discovery of a concrete breakwater under the soil, which has to be removed.

Sands' project director John Downs said the sand sale ban came as 'a bit of a surprise', but added that he is hopeful that the Singapore Government will come up with a long-term solution.

The stoppage disrupted work for about three days last week, but he said: 'Hopefully, it's just a temporary glitch and our supply of concrete resumes during the course of this week.'

Mr Downs' building team of about 30 members will roll in with the cranes after Sands' top executives break ground next Thursday. The date was picked on the advice of their geomancer.

The price of sand has shot up by more than 30 per cent since the ban took effect on Jan 23, but Mr Downs said it is too early to gauge its impact on his construction budget.

A chunk of Sands' $5.05 billion investment in the resort will go to its Moshe Safdie architectural creation - three domes, three 50-storey blocks and a lotus-shaped museum. The structure is expected to take a lot more concrete to build, compared with the low-rise resort at Sentosa.

As for the breakwater - another surprise find after Sands took over the site - Mr Downs said it has been factored into the schedule and cost. The company has awarded one contract to foundation piling company Bachy Soletanche and will announce the names of more contractors in the following week. It recently expanded its corporate office at Republic Plaza and is building an office at the worksite.

Both Sands and Genting International - which is building Resorts World at Sentosa - plan to open in 2009.

Industry players say the projects' three-year construction schedules will need double-quick decision-making and round-the-clock work.

Genting, which was awarded its licence seven months after Sands received its own last May, yesterday indicated that it has made up for the late start.

Its assistant communications director, Mr Jackson Loy, said his team expects to take over the site this month and break ground within a month from then. His team foresees that four in every 10 of its 15 million anticipated visitors by 2010 will be from China.

Mr Loy did not want to talk about the Government's probe into Genting's recent deal with Macau's Stanley Ho, a casino mogul rumoured to be linked to triads. He did say, however: 'Mr Ho will not be having any interest in the Resorts World at Sentosa project.'

Business Times 9 Feb 07
Issues over sand won't impede IR schedule
Company has built in contingency for unforeseen costs
By Arthur Sim

(SINGAPORE) The Marina Bay integrated resort (IR) will open on schedule and issues concerning sand will not be an impediment.

Speaking yesterday at a ceremony to mark the start of construction of the resort, Las Vegas Sands chief operating officer Bill Weidner said: 'I believe there is a strategic stockpile that we can be utilising to make sure we stay on course.'

There will be some cost implications, but Las Vegas Sands chairman Sheldon Adelson is equally upbeat. 'We have built into our budget a contingency of somewhere between 5 and 10 per cent, so the contingency for unforeseen costs is already built into the budget,' he said.

Mr Weidner said the Marina Bay IR is on track to open in the third quarter of 2009.

Separately, Building and Construction Authority (BCA) CEO John Keung said: 'Although the price of sand from distant sources is higher than that from Indonesia, the cost increase is manageable. The impact on total construction cost will likely be between one and 3 per cent.'

In fact, in terms of overall development or project cost, the impact will be less than one per cent, Dr Keung pointed out.

'As we increase the volume of import from new sources, we expect the cost to go down.' BCA is also working with the industry to promote steel construction.

'We estimate that the cost premium for steel construction will be manageable, at 8 per cent of total construction cost - equivalent to about 2 to 3 per cent of total development cost - compared to concrete-based construction,' Dr Keung said.

Steel construction is also considered faster, requires less labour, is cleaner, offers more design flexibility and is better in terms of quality control.

Seah Choo Meng, president of the quantity surveying council at the Singapore Institute of Surveyors and Valuers, said on the use of steel: 'This is an opportunity to set the industry in the direction of sustainable design and could make Singapore even more competitive in the future.'

Mr Seah, who is also chairman of quantity surveying firm Davis, Langdon and Seah, believes that although the price of sand could increase more than 25 per cent, 'the industry would adjust to the new pricing'.

He also expects the industry to adapt in other ways. 'We used to have fluctuation clauses in construction contracts in the 80s and 90s for prices of construction materials,' he said.

'For new contracts, prices of sand could also be fixed or fluctuating.' Mr Seah said that while surveying recently he had initially noticed some hiccups at construction sites over sand, but most sites are 'going back to normal'.
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