Singapore – Chinatown Complex, Singapore’s largest and one of its oldest hawker centres, will be closed for renovations for three months next year starting from March 1 to May 31.
The multi-storey complex, which was built in 1981, houses more than 700 stalls selling food and other goods.
Hawker centres are required to undergo periodic repair and redecoration (R&R) works every five to seven years by their respective town councils or the National Environment Agency (NEA), the latter of which is the managing organization of Chinatown Complex.
The last refurbishing of the complex was between 2006 and 2008 with an upgrading project budget of $20.9. Before that, the centre had a month-long renovation in 2013.
Photo: YouTube screengrab
Ten years after the last R&R, Chinatown Complex is in much need for renovations. Lim Gek Meng, the Chinatown Complex Hawker’s Association chairman, shared with Chinese-language daily Lianhe Wanbao that because of the old sewage pipes, the building was prone to clogging and leaking. “The floor of the wet market is too slippery and we are worried that old people will slip and fall, so the town council will re-tile it”, added Mr. Lim
Other tenants agree that it was about time for the building to undergo renovations and hopefully come out with a new look, even though it would mean their businesses would have to be put on hold for a few months.
Aside from addressing the sewer pipes, other areas such as fixing the ventilation system, replacing wall fans, installing fire protection systems and upgrading public toilets will also be conducted.
Another concern buzzing around the building is whether or not some tenants will use this time as a reason to permanently close shop because they are very close to retirement age.
Meanwhile, netizens and frequent customers of the hawker centre are wary of the fact that the renovation could lead to higher rentals and prices of the food and products sold in Chinatown Complex. Others saw this time as a great opportunity for hardworking hawkers to take some rest and go on vacation.
Coffee (or just caffeine) is one of the biggest sources of modern day addictions. In fact, some studies have found that 64% of adults drink at least 1 cup of coffee every single day. Afterall, a cup of coffee can become more of a necessity if you want to stay awake at work between 2PM and 4PM. But, coffee is also a very expensive addiction: with a cup of Starbucks latte costing around S$3.5 in Singapore, daily coffee consumption cancost around S$1,300 for a year! While buying a coffee machine at home could help reduce this cost, we found some more hacks that can be even more effective financially while also being environmentally friendly.
No Need for a Branded Coffee Maker
If you are in the market for a nice coffee machine to use at home, you might be surprised to find out that you don’t have to opt for a branded version from a well-known coffee brand. For example, Nespresso’s cheapest machine costs S$168, with more expensive versions costing upwards of S$700. But, you can actually get even cheaper ones from Xiaomi or other brands that cost even less at around S$150. Best of all, a lot of these machines are all Nespresso compatible, meaning you can still enjoy all of your favorite Nespresso flavors even without a Nespresso machine.
Free Your Taste Buds and Your Wallet with Reusable Capsules
While a lot of companies have created flexibility for coffee lovers by creating “Nespresso compatible” coffee machines, some others have furthered this trend by creating Nespresso compatible reusable capsules. Costing as little as S$1 each, these capsules can allow coffee drinkers to fill up their own capsules with whatever coffee bean they want. Therefore, consumers can free their taste buds and their wallet from the hold of the “Gillette business model” of charging a huge markup for “refill” products. Not only that, they can also be extremely cost efficient and environmentally friendly because they are reusable.
For instance, a capsule requires about 2-3 grams of coffee for each brew. Given that most coffee beans cost about S$0.075 per gram, you can brew a cup of coffee for only about S$0.15 to S$0.23. In contrast, a pre-made capsule from Nespresso costs around S$0.7 to S$0.9! If you drink 1 cup of coffee per day, that results in a cost reduction of roughly 70%.
Other Money Tips for Coffee
Ultimately, it’ll be difficult to replace 100% of your coffee consumption with a brewing machine at home. Even if you still plan to purchase and drink coffee outside, it will still makes financial sense to get a coffee machine at home if you drink coffee at least once a day: given that a cup of coffee can cost about S$3.00 to S$5.00, it only takes about 40-50 cups of coffees that you make at home to break even on your coffee machine. Even better, earning credit card rewards on your coffee machine, capsule and ground coffee bean purchases can help improve this calculation even more. Even for those who still need to buy coffee outside when meeting friends and colleagues, there are many cashback credit cards in Singapore that often come with special discount deals with coffee chains. Of note, Citi SMRT Card provides a 5% rebate at various chains like Starbucks, Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf, Toastbox and Coffee Club.
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Australian commercial property acquired by UOL Group in attempt to diversify in new market.
UOL Group Limited announced on 6 Dec that it had acquired an Australian commercial property at 72 Christie Street, St Leonards, Sydney for A$154,519,044 (approximately S$153 million). The size and scale of the lobby of 72 Christie Street was said to be evident with double height void and balcony areas. All floors have outstanding levels of natural light. Levels 4,5,6 have large terrace balconies with city views.
The commercial Australian property is an A-grade, eight-storey office building with basement car parking for 228 vehicles; it sits on a 2,815 sqm site. The Australian commercial property was touted as a truly unique commercial building offering a campus style office environment with floorplates up to 1,562m² and large terrace style balcony areas.
72 Christie Street was marketed as being an excellent opportunity to ‘brand your company’, with building naming and sky signage rights available. The modern complex features two street frontages and multiple pedestrian access points. The building currently offers a vertical connection between levels 3 & 4 and includes a quality existing fitout with a creative look and feel.
Located within a short walk to St Leonards Railway & Forum complex, the Australian commercial property benefits from immediate pedestrian access to a multitude of retail facilities and transport links including the Crows Nest café and restaurant precinct.
image credit: Real Commercial
The Australian commercial property is only 2km from North Sydney CBD, 10km From the Sydney CBD and 18km from the Sydney Airport.
Transport access for staff is well serviced given the property is within a 5 minute walk to the St Leonards Forum transport facility including bus and rail services.
UOL acquired the Australian commercial property through its indirect wholly-owned subsidiary, Success Venture (CS) Pty Ltd (“SVCS”). SVCS entered into a sale and purchase agreement (“SPA”) with Proprium Capital Partners (Australia) Pty Ltd as trustee for the Linford Hold Trust to acquire all interest in the Australian commercial property. UOL said that its acquisition of the Australian commercial property was subject to the usual post-completion adjustments.
SVCS is incorporated in Australia, and is 100% owned by UOL Investments (Australia) Pte. Ltd., the Company’s wholly-owned subsidiary incorporated in Singapore. SVCS’s principal activity is that of property investment.
The Australian commercial property is 100 per cent tenanted with the lease expiring in 2028.
UOL said that the Purchase Price was arrived at on a willing-buyer and willing-seller basis taking into consideration various commercial factors, including the location and potential of the Property and prevailing market conditions.
A deposit being ten per cent (10%) of the Purchase Price was paid on signing of the SPA. The balance of the Purchase Price will be payable on completion, which is currently scheduled for 20 December 2018, subject to satisfaction of conditions.
UOL said that the acquisition would be financed by internal resources and external borrowings and is not expected to have a material impact on the Group’s net tangible assets or earnings per share for the financial year ending 31 December 2018. UOL added that the acquisition of the Australian commercial property is in line with the Group’s plan to diversify its presence in Australia and to strengthen recurring income streams.
The Australian commercial property located at 72 Christie Street, St Leonards, Sydney Australia, NSW 2065 has got a freehold tenure. The site area is approximately 2,815 sq m. The Australian commercial property is a 8-storey office building with 4-storey basement parking. Net Lettable Area for the property is approximately 11,259 sq m.
The property has 300 – 3,000sqm of A Grade Office Space with Large Terrace Balconies with City views. It also has 220 security car spaces and interconnective stairs between floors with existing high quality fitout. The building last traded at A$76 million in 2017. This sale was reportedly at an initial yield of 8.5%.
UOL said that none of the Directors of the Company or any of the controlling shareholders of the Company represented on the Board of the Company has any interest, direct or indirect, in the acquisition of the Property.
DBS Equity Research said that UOL’s acquisition of the Australian commercial property marked the beginning for the firm’s expansion and diversification in the new market. Noting that the acquisition was in accordance to UOL’s target to boost its recurring income amidst the weakening of sentiments on Singapore property, DBS Equity Research said:
“Although UOL is one of the proxies to Singapore property, we believe the company may be less impacted as being the earliest to land bank at a lower price would offer more room in pricing its properties. In addition, upward trends in office rents and hotel RevPAR bode well for UOL’s office and hotel investment properties.”
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A pregnant woman is being flamed online after she went to the extent of cancelling a baby shower and blasting her family for giving her a hard time for the name she picked for her unborn son.
The contentious name the woman picked for her baby is Squire Sebastian Senator.
Revealing that this rather absurd name “is not his full name, Squire Sebastian Senator is only his first name,” the woman made it clear on social media that she will not be swayed from her decision to name her son “Squire Sebastian Senator”.
On the Facebook event page of the now-cancelled baby shower, the mother declared: “My baby’s name WILL be a revolution. It will push people to question everything.”
“This is the name I was meant to give him. This is how it will be. He will not be allowed to have a nickname, he is to be called by his full and complete first name.
“This name conveys power. It conveys wealth. It conveys success. If you look back in our family tree, the survival of this clan is literally rooted in squiredom. We are all related to senators too.”
Ripping into her family for not being on board with the baby name, the woman blasted: “Ya’ll have been talking sh-t about my unborn baby. AN UNBORN CHILD! How can you judge an unborn child?? What is wrong with you?? I never knew my family could be so judgmental. They’ve spread rumors and lies about my child.”
She added: “No, I am not crazy. No, I am not mentally unstable. No, I was not drunk when I named my child.”
Publicly cutting her family our of her and her baby’s life, the woman blasted: “F[**]k you all. Fake a[**] family, You won’t get to be a part of my baby’s life and it’s all because you had to judge him.”
The woman’s post went viral after it made its way to Reddit. Instead of receiving support, the mother was roasted online for her name choice and many pointed out that her family was not criticising her unborn child but the name she chose for the baby:
Park View Mansions will relaunch its collective sale tender at a 22 per cent lower reserve price of $250 million on 12 December.
Sole marketing agent Huttons Asia in making the announcement said more than 80 per cent of the 160 owners have agreed to the lower reserve price. The 99-year leasehold, 160-unit Park View Mansion along Yuan Ching Road was initially put up for collective sale with an asking price of $320 million in March 2018.
The land rate with a reserve of $320 million works out to $1,183 psf per plot ratio (ppr), after factoring in $157 million of estimated differential premium and lease upgrading premium. With a 22 per cent reduction to the reserve price the new price translates to a land rate of approximately $969 psf per plot ratio after taking into account an estimated differential premium and lease upgrading premium of $140.8m.
Image credit: Huttons Asia – View of Jurong Lake from Park View Mansions
Owners of Park View Mansions are expected to receive $1.44 million to $1.6 million each from the sale.
Huttons Asia said that Park View Mansions has an allowable gross plot ratio of 2.1 which could yield up to 440 dwelling units based on a 915 sqft average unit size.
Huttons Asia head of investment sales Terence Lian said: “The site presents an excellent redevelopment opportunity for developers as it is located right next to Jurong Lake Gardens. This is a rare piece of land which offers a seamless connection to the gardens and provides a natural environment, hence enhancing the well-being of residents.”
Angela Lim, deputy head of investment sales at Huttons Asia, in noting that the amount of housing stock in the Jurong East area has not changed since the 4th Quarter of 2016, said the last private development in the area was the 710-unit Lake Grande by MCL Land.
Saying this project was sold out in less than three years, she added: “Hence Park View Gardens is an opportune choice for developers to replenish their land bank to match the growing and pent up demand in the Jurong area”.
Located next to Jurong Lake Gardens, the 191,974 sq ft site is zoned for residential use with a gross plot ratio of 2.1 under the 2014 Master Plan. The redevelopment can therefore have a gross floor area of 403,145 sq ft. The site could yield 325 to 455 units, assuming each unit is sized between 860 sq ft and 1,200 sq ft.
The tender for Park View Mansions will close on 18 January 2019 at 12 p.m.
The lowering of the reserve price for Park View Mansions makes it the latest case of owners dialling down their expectations in lieu of a quieter en bloc market, but the site holds much promise as it is within the Jurong Lake District.
There is now some 160 hectares of land that is yet to be developed within the 360-hectare Jurong Lake district. More than 40 per cent of the mixed-use business area is set aside for residential purposes. Developments for the Jurong Lake District are centered around the Jurong East MRT station. With established businesses around the MRT station – like the International business park, IMM (a major shopping mall), along with other new shopping malls, a hospital, educational hubs, high rise offices and residential units – Jurong Lake District is looking very credible as a regional centre even without the HSR project.
Jurong Gateway is also most likely to be the crown jewel in the Jurong Lake District vicinity. With a catchment consumer base of Jurong East HDB dwellers and the Lakeside village (a designated dining place) the Jurong Lake District is likely to be developed fast and find success quickly.According to the URA’s Masterplan, most of the developments will be centred around Jurong Gateway for a start.
Good tenants at Lakeside village may bring people closer to enjoying the lakeside. Lakeside village is connected via bridges to Japanese Garden and Chinese Garden, bringing lakeside enjoyment to the residents staying nearby.
Jurong Lake District project which includes developments along Yuan Ching Road are yet to be developed, but once this area develops with waterfront hotels, it would revitalize the area and possibly lead the Jurong Lake District to become a reality much sooner – in 5 – 7 years time. Some HDB flats around Ho Ching road area in the Jurong Lake District are built in 1972 and are ripe for selective en-bloc redevelopment, at 42 years old.
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A senior citizen with dementia allegedly pushed his domestic helper down an escalator near exit D at Clementi MRT station last Friday, around 2pm, when the helper tried to get him to take the lift.
According to the Chinese daily, a heated argument broke out after the 41-year-old Indonesian maid tried to get her employer, 67-year-old Mr Chen Yangda, to take the lift instead of the escalator.
In the heat of the moment, the employer allegedly pushed the maid, causing her to lose her balance and fall backwards. Hitting her head on the handrail, the helper all the way down to the bottom of the escalator.
One photo circulating on social media show the helper lying on the ground, seemingly unconscious. Another picture shows an officer attending to the helper who is wearing a red top and dark pants:
The Singapore Civil Defence Force has since confirmed that it received a call for medical assistance around 2.20pm and that the helper was conveyed to the National University Hospital.
The police have also revealed that a report has been lodged and that Mr Chen is assisting in the ongoing investigations.
According to the Chinese daily, the helper named Ms Diya is believed to have been hired about a month ago. Ms Diya has reportedly asked for a transfer to a different employer and her agent is apparently making arrangements to complete the transfer in about two to three weeks time.
Najib Razak, Malaysia’s former Prime Minister, was arrested on Monday, December 10, on what should have been a very special day for his family, his wife Rosmah Mansor’s 67th birthday.
Najib arrived at the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) headquarters in Putrajaya at eleven o’clock in the morning of December 10. He was scheduled for an interrogation at the MACC. Within minutes, he was arrested due to the alleged tampering of the final audit report of 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB), which had been “established to drive strategic initiatives for long-term economic development for the country by forging global partnerships and promoting foreign direct investment.”
Figures central to the 1MDB scandal, such as fugitive Malaysian businessman Low Take Jho (Jho Low) and the former Prime Minister himself are facing charges of corruption and money laundering. Najib himself, as well as Rosmah, faces over 50 charges, including criminal breach of trust.
Najib and Rosmah’s daughter, Nooryana Najwa Najib, took to Instagram in an attempt to comfort her mother, and wish her greetings on her birthday. Posting a photo of a young and vibrant-looking Rosmah carting Nooryana as a young child, the daughter wrote, “I know today is not the easiest day for us but let’s take a moment to thank Allah that we are all healthy, alive and still able to help others in need.”
She then greeted and encouraged her mother. “Happy Birthday to my one and only Mummy. Love will get us through it all.”
Showing that the former Prime Minister and his wife are still popular with some of their countrymen, Nooryana’s post has gotten thousands of likes.
This is not the first time Nooryana has taken to social media to air her feelings concerning her parent’s situation. When Rosmah was arrested in October, Nooryana wrote,
“I can accept taking action on a man who was in power but putting the women in his life in harm’s way is going too far. Two weeks ago you raided his mother’s house and today you remand his wife and plan on charging her the same day her husband is due in court.
I suppose tomorrow makes for a great picture and media circus…. The dreaded call came in at 4am. Too sad to cry, too angry to scream, I just got up, took wuduk and prayed tahjud for Mummy.
I pray that Mummy remains calm and composed because knowing her she’s probably worried about everyone at home. I know she’s wondering – ‘How’s Gina taking it? I hope she still goes to class today. Is Adam ok?’
Mummy, even if you can’t hear me, please know that I am fine. I will get out of bed and go to class and Adam will be patiently waiting for you on FaceTime. Please try to eat and get some rest tonight.
No matter how hard the circumstances are, I will always stand by the woman who gave birth to me, wiped my tears away when I was down, slept with me when I was sick and taught me how to stand on my own two feet.
In your words this morning mummy, inshallah, we will persevere.”
As it turned out, Najib was home to celebrate Rosmah’s birthday after all, since the MACC released him on bail after a few hours. The amount of bail that Najib paid has remained undisclosed. He left the MACC headquarters shortly after 1:30 pm.
On Tuesday morning, December 11, the former Chief Executive Officer of 1MDB, Arul Kanda Kandasamy, was also arrested by the MACC. He and Najib will face charges on Wednesday, December 12.
For Alpha JWC Ventures, the investment into Base marks the Jakarta-based venture capital firm’s entry to Vietnam
Base Co-Founder and CEO Hung Pham
Vietnamese software-as-a-service (SaaS) startup Base has raised a US$1.3 million pre-Series A funding round co-led by Alpha JWC Ventures and Beenext.
Existing investors 500 Startups and VIISA also participated in the funding round, which the startup said is the “biggest ever” raised by a B2B startup in the country.
In a press statement, Base said that the new funding will be used to support its regional expansion plan.
“Our first priority within this funding is to acquire more talents for product development and build a solid pedestal for our strategic expansion in Southeast Asia in mid-2019,” said Base Co-Founder and CEO Hung Pham.
“With our products, solid team, and strategic investors, we are positive that we can be the leading SaaS platform in the region in the near future,” he stressed.
The company has developed over 20 apps that cover two verticals: human resources and productivity.
Its apps include job application tracking system Base E-Hiring, task and project management platform Base Wework, and internal request management platform Base Request.
While each application on Base platform can work separately on a standalone basis, they can also communicate freely with each other via internal APIs.
“We spend the last two years building a special model capable of integrating various apps into a centralised place. Each app will be the best solution for a single business function, and blended together to become a powerful workplace for enterprises,” Hung Pham said.
The company named VIB Bank, VP Bank, McDonald’s, MK Group, The Coffee House, and VinCommerce as their users.
For Jakarta-based venture capital firm Alpha JWC Ventures, the investment into Base marks its first entry to Vietnam.
“With our second fund, we want to make a bigger impact in the regional tech scene, while also maintaining our influence in Indonesia. After Indonesia, Singapore, and Malaysia, we believe Vietnam can be the next up and coming tech giant in the region, and Base is at the forefront of the country’s tech revolution,” said Alpha JWC Co-Founder and Managing Partner Chandra Tjan.
Singapore – It is now not an uncommon occurrence when a fresh graduate makes a career choice not related to his field of study such a law major turning pâtissier or an engineer becoming a real estate broker.
The current trend among young Singaporeans today is being open to forging their own career journeys not related to what they’ve studied in the university or past work experience.
A survey conducted in October by recruitment firm Monster.com showed that 79% of Singaporean respondents are willing to take on a job not within their expertise.
Monster.com has also started a campaign called “I made the switch” wherein a total of 2,400 respondents coming from Singapore, Malaysia and the Philippines were asked about issues on career transformations across Southeast Asia.
The results showed that due to an increase in curiosity and ease of exploration methods, 53% of fresh entrants to the workforce wanted jobs outside their fields of study. Furthermore, for people who are already in the middle of their careers and were willing to make the switch, 36% said that the reason would be based on personal fulfillment and passion while 34% said that the change would happen because of their need for higher income earning jobs.
Founder and CEO of recruitment and training firm ACI HR Solutions, Mr. Andrew Chan confirmed that “A trend among the younger professionals in the 21st century is to favour jobs that offer more work-life balance, resulting in the rise of flexibility as a criterion in employment.” This characteristic is a very common behaviour of millennials in our generation.
The Harsh Reality
Aside from the willingness to make a switch in careers, recent events may point out an underlying issue that would spark such a readiness within the fresh graduates today.
In order to paint a picture of reality, let us portray a common scenario happening today. For instance, Daniel (a fictional character), having just graduated from a prominent university in Singapore wants to get ahead on his job searching and starts giving out his resumes to companies in the country. He graduated with a Business Management course so the positions he was aiming for were sales, marketing and administrative-related roles. He walks into an interview and was asked for his previous work experience. Daniel just graduated and therefore he had none. This became such a repetitive scene that he found himself still without a job after one year and 80 applications have passed.
With more and more fresh graduates being faced with this “experience-needed requirement” when applying for a job, they are forced into taking internships or contract positions instead. Another option would be making a switch and choosing another career, as mentioned earlier.
The National University of Singapore (NUS), Nanyang Technological University (NTU) and the Singapore Management University (SMU), in its annual surveys or recent graduates, released that only 78.4 percent of graduates in 2017 managed to secure full-time jobs within six months from graduation. This was the lowest percentage in 10 years.
Because no one can wait around 6 months to one year without a steady flow of income, the trending workaround for a scenario such as this would be freelancing or part-time jobs. These two options still guarantee a source of income plus more time to pursue other activities. The much-required work-life balance that millennials seek could also be achieved by taking freelance work.
Photo: YouTube screengrab
A sense of accomplishment and passion fulfillment have become necessities when paving a career that it pushes financial and job security lower down in the list.
Young professionals today are not afraid of making big career changes with most venturing into entrepreneurship. Because of the many opportunities that support start-ups like e-commerce sites or work-from-home options like freelance writing, such a change is not difficult to do.
National University of Singapore Tan Ern Ser observed that the generation today would rather do something they find meaningful or are interested in rather than be tied up to an office job with the same routine from 8am-5pm with no room for autonomy.
Unlike the previous generation of employees where job security and tenure were important goals in a career, professionals today expect fulfillment and continuous growth to be present in their current work experience, otherwise, it would not be hard for them to look elsewhere.
Singapore sovereign wealth fund chief executive and Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong’s wife. Ho Ching, appears to have recently written two separate poems – one on flooding in Singapore and the other on what people can do to reduce their environmental impact. Both poems were shared on her Facebook page, yesterday.
Ho Ching posted the first poem on flooding in Singapore around 9am as she shared a Facebook post by the Public Utilities Board informing the people of the agency’s inspections of drainage systems near construction sites as the Northeast Monsoon season nears.
Urging netizens to be prepared for a “wet wet monsoon” and “fast flash floods”, Ho Ching hoped that everyone would keep safe and well:
The second poem, on environmental impact, was published just after 12pm yesterday afternoon. Sharing an article by the Guardian on how global investors are calling on governments to take action to cut emissions, Ho Ching wrote:
