Johor - Singapore MRT/RTS Project

AECOM technology won a $42M contract in the middle of this year for the design and engineering study of the project by Malaysia's Land Public Transport Commission and Singapore's Land Transport Authority (LTA).

Here's the main stuffs that matters to most: 

• Terminal locations will likely be JB sentral and Republic Polytechnic (last station on Thomson line).

• Each person will only need to clear the immigration once. That means if you depart from Singapore, you will need to go through CIQ at Singapore only. That's no CIQ on entry to Malaysia. Same applies when you depart Malaysia.

• Will be linked up to the KTM rail to KL sentral. Preliminary estimated traveling time could be only 90 mins (from 6 hours) from JB to KL. This is at a speed of 250km/h. Hopefully this is a high speed non-stop train straigth to KL. If this really happens and done well (hassle free), it will really give the airline a run for its money. Bad news for the traffic cop in Malaysia (less Ang Pow earnings) . I don't mind taking a train from Singapore-KL when I travel for business if this can cut down on the traveling time. Arriving 1-2 hours earlier at the airport, flight time of 45 mins, 30 mins train ride to KL sentral will easily take 3-4 hours. This rail project will surely lead to an increase in visitors to KL and vice versa. 

Johor Southkey Project

IGB Corp is planning to build a Mid-valley JB megamall in Johor. The site should be located at the Southkey location. For those familiar with Mid-valley KL, it is a huge mall with everything (cinema, hotels, etc) and it is always crowded. Once this has been built, i am quite sure it will attract many shoppers from both sides of the causeway. It is planned to be located just beside the Eastern Dispersal Link (EDL) at the precinct 2 & 3. The EDL will be easy access for Singaporeans. Similar to Mid-valley KL, there will be new apartments for sale. Sale is already in progress for shops and offices in Southkey. However, these should be leasehold. Will you consider a leasehold properties in johor (see the poll on the right)? 

Johor Bahru City Transformation

JB city center is undergoing a major transformation. The plan is below and there seem to be quite a big area designated to be parks. Sg Segget will also be made into a riverside attraction possibly like boat or clark quay or River Cheong for those familiar with South Korea. The idea is to have a nice and scenic river side to chill out.

Well, plan is plan so all eyes will be on them to see if they have the will (they certainly have the money) to make it happen. 

Artist impression of the current and future look of Sg Segget.

This is river Cheong where they drew their inspirations.

MediaCorp Foreign Correspondence

Hmmm....your tie is abit crooked and maybe also try to look at the camera more often.

Jurong Transformation

Read about the Jurong Transformation today but this has been in the making for years. It is finally going to materialise as you can really see the constructions in fast progress. In a few years time, it will become the 2nd CBD (or at least it is planned to be). Good news for those staying in the west except for the future traffic jams (expected to be horrendous if there's no road expansion). Here's why:

Jcube shopping mall - ready.

Westgate shopping mall and office  - ready end of 2013. Capitaland will move its office from Capital Tower to here.

JEM shopping mall and office - ready by Q2 2013. Ministry of National Development (MND) will be moving here too.

Ng Teng Fong and Jurong Community Hospital. Ready in 2014.

Hotel - see the picture below from the URA land parcel tender.

Big Box - this is a huge piece of eyesore in Jurong. It is very rare to see construction halted in Singapore especially of such a scale. Construction halted during the 2008-2009 global financial crisis and they have been trying to find funding to continue this project. Boustead Singapore backed out in 2010 and then came Lucrum Capital with $200M investment. It will be a 8 storey warehouse and retail development. I can't really visualise how the retail can compete with the other shopping malls unless they can attract the likes of Ikea, Giant (IMM has one), Tesco, courts, or other major furniture makers. It need to compete directly with IMM which is also undergoing a major revamp. They have already lost precious time. Let's see if this really takes off eventually.

IMM - Undergoing revamp I think in anticipation of the intense competition that's about to come from the malls located much closer to the MRT. Well, this could just be a matter of left to right pocket since Capitaland owns Jcube, westgate and IMM. They are no doubt the king of Jurong Lake District. Great foresight by the ex-CEO.

International Business Park - Not forgetting the current offices at the International Business Park that is already contributing to the traffic jam. It is already quite bad during peak hours. It is sure to become worst.

  

Favourite things for the high net worth

Guess what's the favourite thing for high net worth individuals in Singapore? No wonder we have so much liquidity, so much money but just buy books.

Top Sites in Singapore

Ever wonder what's the top sites in Singapore? Here it is.... 

SIA Website

Read in the forum page today about another complaint regarding the SIA website. It has been more than one year since SIA's CEO apologized for the problems of their website. Even before that, it was many months before they finally admitted and apologized following mountains of complaints. I am a regular traveller with SIA and i am also extremely frustrated by the website. I like the many other travelers have given up complaining. Really, how difficult is it to fix a website? A real PR disaster for a branded 5 star airline.  Perhaps they are truly not sorry enough. 

Singapore Press

Saw the new look of the opposition party star Chen Show Mao in the papers today. Of all the good things that he do (giving away walking sticks to elderly, etc), they chose to focus and report on this? What the crap?? Better get the news from the internet. No wonder we are ranked #150 in freedom of the press this year together with Angola and Qatar but below Pakistan.

Integrated Transport for Bukit Panjang residents

Good news for Bukit Panjang residents. They will finally get their own Integrated Transport Hub which has both the Bus interchange and MRT but only ready in 2015. Poor Bukit Panjang residents didn't have MRT and public transport there is pathetic. Not to mention the infamous LRT. There's also the always-jam BKE and upper bukit timah road in the morning.

S'pore remains biggest foreign investor in Iskandar

Guess this is no secret. According to Yahoo News, Singapore is the biggest foreign investor in Iskandar. The Iskandar needs Singapore to succeed.

Singapore Press: Really slow...

Even US online papers like Huffington Post and Wall Street Journal is faster than our Straits Times. Why is our press so slow when it is happening in our own backyard? 

Capitaland sells stake in UMland

Capitaland has sold its stake in UMland? Why hasn't UMland updated it's website on the shareholdings yet?

Inconsiderate Drivers

Saw these 2 BMWs parked opposite each other at a Senja car park. What's wrong with these 2 BMW owners? I have a suggestion. If you are so afraid of getting your car scratched, take the bus or taxi. Don't buy a car. 

Worst of them all is this AH who parked at the handicap lot a few months ago. I saw him walking away from his car and he is totally fine. Well, of course i called the hotline. He was probably fined but I think he totally deserved it. There are plenty of lots just 1-2 stories above.

Singapore Press: $7000 a month cabby, quality reporting?

Sigh....another reporting with questionable quality. Now fingers pointing each other.....You be the judge.

http://sg.news.yahoo.com/blogs/the-flipside/fairy-tale-7-000-month-cabby-teach-us-072647460.html

Singapore Press: Fouled Mouthed Barclays Trader, why so slow?

I first came across this article on the Stomp were 25 Oct 2012. Someone posted the video on this portal. I had no idea who is this fouled mouthed  executive. Then it finally came to light after another article appeared on the  Business Insiders on the 6 Nov. The article mention that The Times discovered the Trader's identity even earlier.

The Straits Times finally published the story on 10 Nov. In the article, it says their journalist went down to the trader's house on 9 Nov. This is 16 days after the video first appeared on their own portal Stomp.

I am puzzled why is our press so slow and missed the story? Why do they only follow the story or try to interview him on the 10 Nov? I have to read it on an American online papers to find out the truth while all this happened in our own backyard. I am a subscriber with Straits Times and i find this is so disappointing. 

I am having my doubts if our national press will survive for long if they do not improve its standards. With the rise of the internet, more objective informations are coming from many sources. Readers are not stupid and can discern the truth. If we can get it for free too, why should we pay for old or 2nd hand news?

Updates on the JB City Center/'Matex land' development

I just return from the VIP preview of the new Johor Bahru City Center project (matex land) marketed by NS Global. The actual launch will be Jan 2013. I actually went with my cheque book ready and with 70% chances of buying a unit. Then the more i ask, the more uncertain i became.

These are my findings:

- Unprofessional agent. It is funny that many of the real estate agent that I  met are unprofessional. I heard my agent that invited me was still sleeping at 12 noon so they got me another agent to attend to me. He told me that UEM is a subsidiary of UMland (the developer) and that capitaland is a shareholder of UEM. What a load of crap!! UEM and Umland are actually separate and different entity. Capitaland is a shareholder of UMland and not UEM. UEM belongs to the Khazanah group (Malaysia's temasek holdings equivalent). I really don't understand why the agents do not spend some time to read up about what they are selling. Or at least the agency should train them properly. How difficult is it to just google it up and check? I found most of the materials online myself (99%). It is not as if they have hundreds of properties to sell every weekend. It is a full time job for most and a knowledgeable agent would at least command more respect from the buyers and raise the professionalism or standards of this profession. Unfortunately, most of them are just simply lazy or sloppy. They are not passionate about their job but only about $$$$. In that case, they are simply order takers and messengers. If you don't know, just say you don't know and never bullshit your way out. 

- Facilities. You only get to use the facilities (swimming pool) for the first two years. After which, you will have to pay. No details of how that will be charged. Also, there is no allocated parking lots. You will have to ballot for a season parking. What the fxxx? No parking lots? What kind of luxury apartment is this? I can understand if this is mainly a service apartment like somerset puteri harbour but not for residential living like this. This is malaysia and land is of plenty.... My plan is to get one for a short weekend getaway and there's no parking lots? A more senior guy came over to try to answer questions but it made it worst. He says that they can't cater to everyone as each has their preferences and most will take the future subway (planned). Well, shouldn't a seller cater to a buyer for obvious reasons? Do you think you are the only developer in town? I told him i disagree as most investors would likely drive to JB and I very much doubt that they will want to take the train. I believed that those who can afford to invest in JB also drives. With the notorious crime rate in JB, wouldn't one prefer to be able to park their car in peace in a secure place? If you don't have a parking or priority parking at your own apartment, you will end up parking in public parking lots. There are a lot of Singaporeans driving to JB for food and shopping. Yet this guy is telling me that they are targeting people who takes the train? Either he is clueless or just an answering machine. Another example of sloppy sales guy.

- Unconfirmed units. You can make a booking with $5000 for a unit. However, there's no guarantee that you will have that unit. This is because they have some bumi (the local malays) policy where the bumi will be allocated some priority units and if that happens to be what you chose.... sorry, you will be given other choices. If you still don't like it, you can have your $5000 refunded back to you. Some of the units are really bad. The view is blocked by the proposed hotel.  No thanks.... I just don't like to be 2nd class. 

Well, just one disappointing weekend. 

Update on johor properties

This is an updated post from my earlier post on 21 Oct 2012.

Encorp Marina

Encorp marina has just put up a full page advertisement today promoting this development. They were trying to create the kind of property hype in Singapore. In recent property launches in Singapore, investors just simply give their cheques to agents to help them book a unit. Then developers will ballot to bring some fairness to buyers. When the hutton agents told me there is also a cut off for cheque collection on friday at 3pm before their Saturday launch, my toes couldn't stop laughing. Encorp marina has been out in the market trying to sell for months if not years. The previous agency (A new agent is used now, Hutton) has been calling me for months to sell Encorp Marina which i told them repeatedly I am not keen. What in their mind would they think that there's going to be a rush this time round? There are 2 towers consisting of 538 units altogether. Yet this new agency still has the cheek to suggest to potential buyers that there is a rush. You can see here what housing agents are trying to do....simply full of crap!

Well, back to the analysis. 

- Location. The location is just behind their competitor, Somerset Puteri Harbour which was fully sold within 2 weekends. Location is quite good as it is near to the indoor theme park and traders hotel.


- Developer. Not familiar with this developer. 

- Price. RM1150 psf. Size from 700 sq ft. I am not really sure if the price has gone up so much due to market forces or it is just the agent again increasing the price themselves. I recalled the prices were lower before Huttons took over as agent. Somerset Puteri Harbour which is a more premium project (see my post 21 Oct 2012) was launched at RM800 psf.  The price in this region seem to be higher than johor bahru.

New JB center (name unknown yet)

This is a new upcoming launch that consist of a condo tower including a commercial podium and hotel.

- Location. The location is excellent. It is very near to city square and the causeway. It will be built on top of a 2 storey shopping mall. I am not so certain about the success of this mall since mid-valley Johor is in the pipeline. If there is a much bigger mall elsewhere, will you go to this small one? For those not familiar with mid-valley KL, it is a mega mall. A mega mall like the name suggest is a really really big mall. In addition, a hotel tower will be built beside it. The brandname of the hotel hasn't been made known at the time of this posting. Johor has a shortage of good quality hotel. Don't believe? Try naming me one world class hotel.

- Developer. UMland is the developer. This is a major developer in malaysia and one should feel more secure. Capitaland is the major shareholder in UMland.

- Price. RM961 sq ft. Size from 600+ sq ft. 

With so many developments in Johor now, this is one of which i will seriously consider as it met most of my criteria.

Singapore Press Freedom's Global Ranking

Singapore is usually among the top in most rankings. This is one of the very rare occasion where it is at the bottom. Singapore is ranked even below many 3rd world countries in press freedom at #150.