Investors put Bintan development on hold

Investors put Bintan development on hold

SINGAPORE (DPA): Plans for a large-scale Singapore-Indonesia resort complex on Indonesia's Bintan island are threatened by the region's disastrous financial crisis, a report said yesterday.

Malaria, water problems and smoke haze from forest fires have already plagued the beach resort development since its first phase opened in 1996.

Now, East Asia's economic turmoil has caused major investors to balk, throwing the future of the S$3.5 billion (US$2.2 billion) series of developments into question.

"We are all fighting for our survival because of problems, one after another," Singapore's Business Times newspaper quoted one unidentified investor as saying.

"Since none of us are making money and we are way off our original plans, there's not much point talking about new developments," he said.

Investors in the project include Singapore's government-linked Sembawang Corporation and Singapore Technologies Investment Corporation, along with several of the island republic's top banks and numerous other companies. The Singapore consortium owns a 40 percent stake in the venture.

Indonesian players, such as the Salim Group and the Indonesian Navy Foundation, own the other 60 percent.

The Bintan Beach International Resort project, which began in 1991, was intended to turn 23,000 hectares (57,500 acres) - more than one-third the land area of Singapore - into a gigantic "integrated lifestyle resort", the daily said.

The facilities were set to include hotels, golf courses, holiday homes and other attractions. Six hotels and a scattering of tourist attractions are already up and running.

Singapore accounts for about half of the current visitors to existing hotels and golf courses on the island, which is less than an hour from Singapore by ferry.

Another one-fourth of Bintan's visitors come from Japan, with more tourists coming from Taiwan, South Korea and other countries. Projected visitor arrivals for this year have been cut from 350,000 to 200,000, project developers said.