Ian De Cotta Channel NewsAsia 14 Feb 11;
SINGAPORE : Work on the Changi Motorsports Hub has been stopped since the middle of last month.
This comes after SG Changi, which won the bid to build the facility, failed to deliver an instalment for the S$50 million piling work.
MediaCorp has learnt from SG Changi that the S$10 million outstanding amount will be paid on Tuesday, after company chairman and shareholder Fuminori Murahashi 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 amount needed to complete the project," SG Changi's director and general manager, Moto Sakuma, told MediaCorp.
He added: "We have secured US$200 million from investors in Hong Kong that would have allowed us to do so, but they have frozen the funds."
The S$370 million project came under scrutiny after recent reports said the Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau had begun a probe into the tender for the project.
It was revealed 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 consortiums in their bid to build the track, but was dropped from the management team in July.
While Mr Sakuma said they have handed their accounts and records to the Bureau and cooperated fully, they are unsure if the probe in still ongoing or has been concluded.
A karting circuit, a quarter-mile drag racing strip, a motor museum and 35,000 square metres of commercial space are also being planned for the Motorsports Hub.
The probe has spooked interested parties, especially those from Singapore, and SG Changi 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 2011.
- CNA/ms
Funds crunch puts brakes on motor sports hub
Group is late with instalment payment for piling work
Leonard Lim Straits Times 15 Feb 11;
CONSTRUCTION work on the Changi Motorsports Hub has stopped, after the consortium in charge of the project, SG Changi, failed to deliver an instalment for the $50 million piling work.
The $10 million outstanding amount is expected to be paid today and work may resume.
One of SG Changi's directors, Mr Moto Sakuma, admitted yesterday they had yet to secure the full quantum of the construction cost - estimated to be $380 million - from the private sector.
When The Straits Times visited the 41ha site near the Singapore Airshow grounds yesterday afternoon, all was quiet.
Over 15 minutes, just two trucks arrived at the sea-facing site to deliver long cylindrical equipment. Cranes and other machinery were largely idle.
This, despite SG Changi admitting in past reports it is facing a tight deadline to meet the targeted completion date of end-2011 for the $380 million project.
"Work stopped for about two weeks, around Chinese New Year," a Bangladeshi site supervisor who declined to be named said. He added: "My boss just told me there's some problem."
According to him, there were about 200 workers before. Yesterday, there were only about 20, all sitting in a shaded area.
Construction had started only in December, even though SG Changi said last March - when it was picked ahead of two other bidders by the Government to design, finance, build and manage the facility for 30 years - that it hoped to start work within three months.
It has had to source for funding in terms of bank loans and equity for the project, and there has been talk that the Japanese-led group lacked the necessary financial muscle to pull off the project.
Many in the motor sports industry worried that this would lead to delays in the construction of the hub, which will have a 3.7km track capable of hosting any race except Formula One, a 1.2km karting circuit, grandstands, shopping and food and beverage outlets, and a racing academy.
Yesterday, Mr Sakuma was hopeful that fresh funds would come within a few weeks.
"We have been dealing with a local bank for the last two months," he said. "We're expecting something within this month."
He declined to say how much money had been secured so far, but added that there were no changes to the facility's expected completion date.
"Construction's still going on, I don't have reports though," he claimed.
But later yesterday, when pressed on why construction work had stopped, he said he was in a meeting and would return the call. Further attempts to contact him were unsuccessful.
Another SG Changi director, Singapore businessman Thia Yoke Kian, declined comment.
In response to queries, Mr Alvin Hang, spokesman for the Singapore Sports Council (SSC), which is overseeing the project, would say only: "The SSC expects SG Changi to comply with all its commitments under the project agreement."
The hub is a major plank in Singapore's aim to position itself as a regional motor sports destination, and SG Changi had hoped to stage the first race there by March next year.
The latest news comes a month after the Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau (CPIB) was reported to have begun a probe into possible irregularities in the hub's tender process.
An official at the SSC's motor sports industry development arm and others involved in the deal have reportedly been called up for interviews and lie detector tests.
A CPIB spokesman yesterday declined to confirm or deny that there is an investigation into the matter.
