SINGAPORE, Feb. 15, 2012 /PRNewswire-Asia/ -- Singaporean
enterprises including Meritus Hotels & Resorts and CapitaLand
(China) Investment Co. have plans to pump up their investment in
western China, with Chengdu's Tianfu New Zone likely to emerge as
the hottest magnet for investors.
On February 15, the Chengdu Channel of Singapore's Lianhe Zaobao
(http://chengdu.zaobao.com) and Symposium for Singaporean &
Sichuan Entrepreneurs Investing in Tianfu New Zone were launched in
Chengdu, providing yet another avenue for cooperation and exchanges
between businesspeople and policy-makers of Sichuan and the
southeast Asian country, following the Singapore-Sichuan High-Tech
Innovation Park, a major venture also located in Tianfu New
Zone.
Chengdu Channel of the Lianhe Zaobao website is a multi-media
platform established jointly by Chengdu Overseas Media Services and
Singapore Press Holdings, the publisher of Lianhe Zaobao. It is
aimed to serve as a key communications channel for businesses and
governments of Singapore and Sichuan.
Chengdu Channel will hold regular investment events for Singapore
and Chengdu entrepreneurs to spur their mutual business cooperation
and exchange. It plans to explore a new model of regional
collaboration platform between western China with Chengdu as the
focal point and Southeast Asia centered on Singapore.
At the first Symposium for Singaporean & Sichuan Entrepreneurs
Investing in Tianfu New Zone, potentials in the Tianfu New Zone and
seeking partnerships to capitalize on these opportunities topped
the agenda for discussion between participants.
Regarding the prospects of Singaporean companies in China, Pang Te
Cheng, Consul General of the Consulate-General of the Republic of
Singapore in Chengdu, said that many of these companies have
already predicted and prepared for the impending relocation of
production facilities from China's east coast toward the nation's
western region.
Last September, cooperation between Sichuan and Singapore reached a
new apex when the agreement for the Singapore-Sichuan High-Tech
Innovation Park was concluded.
Consul General Pang noted that Sichuan and Chengdu have undergone
full speed social and economic growth over the recent years,
especially after the 2008 Sichuan earthquake. In 2011, Sichuan
achieved an economic aggregate of over RMB2 trillion, a 15% growth
and the second-fastest among Chinese provinces, while Chengdu
recorded RMB685.5 billion in GDP, a 15.2% increase that ranks
fourth in China's sub-provincial cities. Add to that the potential
of the Tianfu New Zone, often deemed to arise as a new Chengdu, and
revitalization of the city's northern area, Sichuan and, in
particular, its capital are fast becoming the core of the western
China expansion.
Chengdu's economic growth has parlayed into deeper ties with
Singapore. The construction of the Singapore-Sichuan High-Tech
Innovation Park, the first wave of development of the prominent
Tianfu New Zone, signals a new height of Singaporean investment and
a sizable vessel for future cooperation. Add to that other ventures
such as the landmark Raffles City, under development by the Chinese
subsidiary of Singapore-based CapitaLand, to open in Chengdu in the
middle of the year, traffic between the two regions will likely
continue to rise. Last year, more than 45,000 Sichuan residents
visited Singapore, among which over 37,000 were from Chengdu, up
25% and 24% year on year respectively.
Hoon Teck Ming, General Manager of Southwest China of CapitaLand
China Holdings, said the company has been paying close attention to
the government's planning of and policies affecting the Tianfu New
Zone. The Singapore-Sichuan High-Tech Innovation Park, with its
strong industry orientation and infrastructure supports, will
attract various resources and promote population influx and
property development, and many more of these urban-industrial
integrations will materialize in the New Zone.
Kenneth Choo, Director of China Operations of Singaporean training
provider NTUC LearningHub and director of the Sichuan branch of the
Singapore Chamber of Commerce and Industry in China (SingCham),
revealed that NTUC plans to open a professional training school in
the Singapore-Sichuan High-Tech Innovation Park to provide
Singaporean and other foreign-funded companies in Chengdu with
vocational training programs. Star Alliance Education &
Services' director Shelly Seah also noted that Chengdu has a
promising education market, and the company will increase its
expenditure in the city this year.
Yee Loon Lau, Business Development Director with Singapore's
Meritus Hotels & Resorts, was cited as applauding the growth of
the hospitality industry in Chengdu, as many world-class hotels
including Intercontinental and Shangri-La have established their
presence in the city and are driving the local market toward
high-end consumption and high-intensity competition. Nonetheless,
Lau expressed confidence in the sector's continual growth following
the construction of Tianfu New Zone, and recently flew to the city
for talks over a hotel development project.
Singapore Prime Minister's Office Cabinet Minister and
Singapore-Sichuan Trade and Investment Committee (SSTIC) consultant
Lim Swee Say said in an earlier interview that Singaporean
government and enterprises have invested in several large-scale
projects in China such as the Suzhou Industrial Park, Tianjin
Ecological City, and Guangzhou Knowledge City, but that "the
Singapore-Sichuan Innovation Park in the Tianfu New Zone will
surpass the others."
SOURCEļ¹Information Office of Chengdu Municiple Government