Saturday, July 25, 2009

NTUC Club drops plans for $45m Sentosa resort

IT IS officially off. A 200-room resort at Sentosa, complete with spa, an infinity pool and free wireless broadband access has been canned.

NTUC Club, the recreational arm of the National Trades Union Congress, said in a statement yesterday that ‘it is no longer viable to continue with the project’.

Rising land value and high construction costs were cited as reasons.

In the statement, it also added that the club and landlord Sentosa Development Corporation (SDC) ‘have a good understanding about the decision’.

The 3ha site, which belongs to Sentosa, ‘will be reviewed for future developments’. A Sentosa spokeman said that particular parcel of land has always been earmarked for sports and recreational use.

Plans for NTUC’s fourth resort facility, just minutes away from the upcoming Resorts World Sentosa, were unveiled with great fanfare in 2005.

It was to have cost $45 million and would give its members ‘a relaxing holiday at a very affordable price’.

But as of last September, the plot remained unused. When asked, an NTUC Club spokesman said plans for the resort were back on the drawing board due to rocketing land construction costs.

Neither NTUC Club nor SDC would comment on the agreement over the land. Sentosa would say only that the land was not sold and no rental payments were made as there was no lease agreement involved.

NTUC Club added that the only document signed was a memorandum of understanding.

A spokesman said the club has no immediate plans to build a new resort elsewhere. But he added that the club is always on the lookout to add more facilities for its club members.

Source: Straits Times, 25 July 2009

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