DAILY NEWS

Daily News – 1 September 2021 (Wed)

Singapore Real Estate

Development charge rates jump 10.9% for non-landed residential use
Singapore has again increased the development charge (DC) rates for landed and non-landed residential use groups, with significant increases for some locations, as the private housing market remains buoyant. However, the government is lowering DC rates for commercial use for the third consecutive time.
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/real-estate/development-charge-rates-jump-109-for-non-landed-residential-use
https://www.straitstimes.com/business/property/development-charge-rates-up-109-for-non-landed-residential-use-07-cut-for

JTC launches Jalan Papan industrial site for tender
JTC has launched one site at Jalan Papan (Plot 7) for tender. In a press statement on Tuesday, JTC said the site is the first of four confirmed list sites under the industrial government land sales programme for the second half of 2021.
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/real-estate/jtc-launches-jalan-papan-industrial-site-for-tender-0

Companies’ Brief

CDL, MCL Land secure green loans totalling S$847m for two residential developments
City Developments Limited (CDL) and MCL Land have secured green loans amounting to S$847 million to finance the development of two newly-acquired government land sale sites at Northumberland Road and Tengah Garden Walk, CDL said in a statement on Tuesday.
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/real-estate/cdl-mcl-land-secure-green-loans-totalling-s847m-for-two-residential-developments

CDL Hospitality Trusts enters UK’s build-to-rent sector with S$136m investment
CDL Hospitality Trusts (CDLHT) announced on Tuesday that it has entered into a land-purchase agreement and a development-funding agreement to invest in a build-to-rent (BTR) residential property in Manchester, United Kingdom, for a purchase consideration of £73.3 million (S$136 million).
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/real-estate/cdl-hospitality-trusts-enters-uks-build-to-rent-sector-with-s136m-investment

Brokers’ take: ESR-Reit, ARA Logos, Lendlease Global, Cromwell E-Reit are UOBKH’s top contenders for FTSE Russell’s real estate index
UOB Kay Hian has named ESR-Reit, ARA Logos Logistics Trust (ARA Logos), Lendlease Global Commercial Reit (Lendlease Global) and Cromwell European Reit (Cromwell E-Reit) as top contenders to join the FTSE EPRA Nareit Developed Asia Index, it said in a research note on Tuesday.
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/stocks/brokers-take-esr-reit-ara-logos-lendlease-global-cromwell-e-reit-are-uobkhs-top-contenders

Sea CEO is Singapore’s new richest person with US$20b fortune
Forrest Li, Sea’s billionaire co-founder, chairman and chief executive officer, has become Singapore’s richest person as shares of his company surged. Mr Li, who was born in China and later became a Singapore citizen, is now worth US$19.8 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, after Sea’s American depositary receipts rose 67 per cent this year.
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/companies-markets/sea-ceo-is-singapores-new-richest-person-with-us20b-fortune

Corporate digest
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/companies-markets/corporate-digest-1440

Views, Reviews, Forum & Others

Embracing the circular economy for sustainable impact, business growth
The world produces over two billion tonnes of waste every year, enough to fill trucks that circle the globe 24 times over. And despite reduced economic activity over the past year, the World Bank expects this number to grow by 70 per cent within 30 years.
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/opinion/embracing-the-circular-economy-for-sustainable-impact-business-growth

Reordering Asia’s supply chains won’t go far enough for the US
Why Singapore? Why Vietnam? And why supply chains? These are some of the questions that arise when looking back at US Vice-President Kamala Harris’ visit to South-east Asia last week. The answers might shed some light on the Biden administration’s emerging policy towards Asean, as well as China – and where it falls short.
https://www.straitstimes.com/opinion/reordering-asias-supply-chains-wont-go-far-enough-for-the-us

Putting sustainability claims to the regulatory test
As more assets flow into sustainable or environmental, social and governance (ESG) investments, regulators in the US and Europe are laying frameworks for closer scrutiny of sustainability claims by fund managers.
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/opinion/putting-sustainability-claims-to-the-regulatory-test

Looking out for the Singapore worker
Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong’s National Day Rally speech on Sunday cited plans to use the local qualifying salary (LQS) to raise the pay of Singapore’s lower-wage earners. Also announced was the coming provision of legal sanction to the fair employment watchdog to protect Singaporean workers from discrimination.
https://www.straitstimes.com/opinion/st-editorial/looking-out-for-the-singapore-worker

Covid-19 and the structural crises of our time
The Covid-19 pandemic, devastating as it is, is not simply a health crisis. It is the product of an interlocking web of diverse problems that have been building up over time. Given the structural nature of this crisis, even as the embers of the immediate fire of infections and deaths burn out, the fallout from the conflagration will continue, taking different forms in its wake, including the rise of yet another pandemic.
https://www.straitstimes.com/opinion/covid-19-and-the-structural-crises-of-our-time

Minister rallies Singapore to rise to existential climate challenge
The role Singapore plays in the critical need for global climate action will come about only through the collective efforts of all segments of its community; its businesses and corporations, in particular, will need to transform and make sustainability not just a core pillar of their operations, but a competitive advantage.
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/companies-markets/minister-rallies-singapore-to-rise-to-existential-climate-challenge
https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/environment/with-climate-change-making-weather-erratic-plan-activities-around-forecasts

The responsibility of banking: financing a sustainable future
The battle against Covid-19 has been difficult. It has cost lives and livelihoods and stalled economies. Lockdowns have taken a toll on people’s mental and physical health and on their family relationships. Amid the lockdowns and reduced economic and social activities however, global carbon dioxide emissions fell more than 6 per cent last year to their lowest rate since 2006, based on research from the Global Carbon Project.
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/companies-markets/the-responsibility-of-banking-financing-a-sustainable-future

China port closures to delay Christmas shipments, stall production in Singapore
Singapore – If you celebrate Christmas, you may want to start gift shopping for the season now. With several terminal closures at China’s key ports recently, the queue of container ships now waiting to unload cargo and clear customs could last for another three to four months.
https://www.straitstimes.com/business/economy/china-port-closures-to-delay-christmas-shipments-stall-production-in-singapore

Update on COVID-19 (Coronavirus Disease 2019) Situation

Number of Covid-19 cases linked to 8 S’pore bus interchanges rises to 276
Singapore – The Covid-19 clusters at eight bus interchanges now stand at 276 cases on Tuesday (Aug 31) with 26 new cases reported. The Bugis Junction cluster had 11 new cases, bringing its total to 222, said the Ministry of Health (MOH) in its nightly update.
https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/health/number-of-covid-19-cases-linked-to-8-bus-interchanges-rises-to-276-79-unlinked
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/government-economy/156-new-locally-transmitted-covid-19-cases-79-unlinked

Covid-19 booster jabs: Some may not get same vaccine from earlier shots
Singapore – When Covid-19 booster shots are rolled out in Singapore, some may be given the same vaccine they took earlier while others may be administered a different one. “Both approaches are being considered, with pros and cons to both strategies,” Associate Professor Lim Poh Lian, director of the High Level Isolation Unit at the National Centre for Infectious Diseases, told The Straits Times.
https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/covid-19-booster-jabs-some-may-not-get-same-vaccine-from-earlier-shots

*For more information, please visit the Ministry of Health (MOH) website at www.moh.gov.sg and refer to go.gov.sg/mohupdates for updates on the COVID-19 (Coronavirus Disease 2019) situation