Australia to help build trade center

Australia to help build trade center

SINGAPORE (AFP): Singapore named an Australian consultancy yesterday to help develop Southeast Asia's biggest exhibition center amid increasing competition from neighbors to host regional trade shows.

Trade and Industry Minister Yeo Cheow Tong said Cox Richardson Rayner would be the consultants for the ultra-modern 100,000- square-meter "Mega Exhibition Centre."

Excluding the price of land, the first phase of the government-backed project covering 60,000 square meters of exhibition space will cost S$150 million (US$ 107 million). The first phase will be completed by early 1999.

The center will be located in the vicinity of the airport, major expressways and a planned underground railway station, and would be a suitable venue for consumer as well as specialized trade shows.