Remarks by DPM Prof S Jayakumar at Press Conference on Award of Integrated Resort at Sentosa, 8 Dec

08 DEC 2006

8 Dec 2006 Posted in Speeches

Good afternoon

Introduction

  1. Thank you for coming to today’s media conference. Seated with me are my colleagues who are members of the Tender Approving Authority. With changes in Ministerial appointments since the Marina IR RFP, the TAA, which I chair, now comprises Minister for National Development Mah Bow Tan, Minister for Trade and Industry Lim Hng Kiang, 2nd Minister for Finance Tharman Shanmugaratnam, Minister for Community Development, Youth and Sports Vivian Balakrishnan, Minister for Transport Raymond Lirn and Minister of State for Trade and Industry S Iswaran. Mr S lswaran is unable to join us for this press conference.

  2. In April this year, the Government launched the Request for Proposals (RFP) to develop an Integrated Resort, or IR, at Sentosa. This is the 2nd IR development in Singapore. As you know, the first IR at Marina Bay was awarded to Las Vegas Sands in May this year.

  3. Today, we will announce the results of the Sentosa IR RFP.

  4. Before letting you know who the successful proposer is, let me make some comments.

Strategic Obiectives for Sentosa IR

  1. First, I want to recap the strategic objectives for the Sentosa IR. We envisaged the IR on Sentosa to be a family oriented resort anchored by unique and compelling attractions that offer the whole family a fun and memorable experience. It should strengthen Sentosa’s island resort offerings. The key attractions should be of a significant scale to draw a large number of new visitors to Singapore as well as to extend the average length of stay of visitors. Our expectation for the IR is also to generate significant additional economic benefits, specifically job creation and an increase in tourism receipts.

Criteria & Weights

  1. With these objectives in mind, we evaluated the proposals based on 4 key criteria with approximate weights as follows:
    1. tourism appeal & contribution (45%);
    2. architectural concept & design (25%);
    3. quantum of development investment (20%); and
    4. strength of the consortium & partners (10%).

Proposals Received

  1. At the close of the RFP on 10 October, we received 3 proposals -from Eighth Wonder, Genting International & Star Cruises, and Kerzner International with CapitaLand. All 3 bidders submitted high-quality proposals which strongly reflected their commitment in developing a worldclass integrated resort at Sentosa. On behalf of the Government of Singapore, we thank them for the tremendous effort and resources that they have put into their proposals and the RFP process.

Evaluation Process

  1. As with the Marina Bay IR evaluation, the TAA for the Sentosa IR met the 3 bidders individually a week after the close of the RFP to go through the key offers in each proposal.
  1. Separately, to preserve the objectivity of the evaluation process, the Tender Evaluation Committee (TEC) for the Sentosa IR also met with each of the 3 bidders as part of their in-depth appraisal of the proposals. The TEC comprised Mr Lim Siong Guan, Chairman of Economic Development Board, who also chaired the Marina Bay IR TEC, and the Permanent Secretaries of Finance, Trade and Industry, National Development and Law.
  1. Similar to the evaluation for the Marina Bay IR, we engaged experts and consultants to assist the TEC and the TAA to evaluate certain aspects of the proposals. For example, the Design Evaluation Panel, comprising established local and international architects and tourism professionals evaluated the architectural concept and design of the proposals. We also engaged international consultants to help examine the robustness of the bidders’ financial and business models and the key components such as the family leisure experiences.
  1. To evaluate the proposals, the TEC and the TAA adopted the same Analytic Hierarchy Process or AHP used in the Marina Bay IR evaluation, to provide a more systematic method in assessing the different proposals.

Announcement of Winning Bidder

  1. In the two months since the close of the Sentosa IR RFP, there has been a careful and rigorous evaluation process. The TAA has now arrived at a decision, and we are pleased to announce that the successful Proposer for the Integrated Resort on Sentosa is Genting International & Star Cruises.
  1. Genting International & Star Cruises submitted the most compelling proposal overall that best meets our economic and tourism objectives. In particular, the proposal reflects our vision for the Sentosa IR as a large-scale, family resort with its host of world-class family leisure attractions and other strong offerings. We believe that the attractions will position Sentosa as a premier island resort for families and draw significant numbers of both new and repeat visitors to Singapore.
  1. I now call on Minister Lim Hng Kiang and Minister Mah Bow Tan to elaborate on the details of the winning proposal.

Last updated on 25 Nov 2012