Source : Business Times – 29 Sep 2009
THE clock is ticking as Singapore awaits the outcome of discussions between the government and the consortium tasked with building the country’s $1.87 billion Sports Hub.
The mega-project in Kallang – originally scheduled to be ready by end-2010 but which will now be completed only in mid-2013 at the earliest – has been delayed time and again, chiefly due to financial and legal issues.
It’s time for the authorities and other relevant parties to come clean and make clear their plans for the hub going forward, because whatever they say will have a bearing on the Republic’s ambitions to be a major player in the international sporting arena.
The Singapore Sports Hub Consortium must set itself a deadline to decide on what to do next. Pick a date (the sooner the better), work within that timeframe and come up with a firm working plan on how the hub should progress, after factoring in all the various stumbling blocks.
In the event that securing bank loans is still a problem next year – a distinct possibility, given the scale and budget of the Sports Hub – then a Plan B must be activated.
Perhaps the hub could be scaled down for now so that at least some of the facilities are built first, with the rest to follow at a later date. Is it possible to build the national stadium and aquatic centre first, for instance, and then construct the other facilities some time after that?
As things stand, the government is sticking by its earlier statement that it remains in active discussion with the consortium to help resolve the funding issues. The agreement now is for the consortium to provide the necessary funds to build the infrastructure and carry out the programming. The government would, in turn, pay the consortium for labour and operational costs over a 25-year period.
But no matter which way you look at it, it is already uncharacteristic by Singapore’s standards for a national project to be delayed nearly three years – and possibly even longer, given that the consortium has yet to sign the final contract with the Singapore Sports Council. It is set to do so by year-end.
A project of this scale is by no means easy to plan and execute. Like all other sports fans, I am eagerly awaiting the day when we finally have a world-class Sports Hub that we can call our own and be proud of. Under the circumstances, the least we can expect is some clear direction on the next course of action, as well as the various options available.
The ball is now firmly in the court of the government and the consortium to provide the many answers that the sporting public craves.
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