Singapore plans giant wheel to promote tourism

Singapore plans giant wheel to promote tourism

Associated Press/Singapore

Singapore seeks to boost tourism with a giant wheel that
planners say will be 43 meters (142 feet) taller than the London
Eye, a similar attraction beside the River Thames.

The Singapore Flyer project will be 178 meters (587 feet) high
when it is completed in early 2008, and visitors will be able to
see as far away as 45 kilometers (28 miles), with views of
neighboring Malaysia and Indonesia, according to project
managers.

Construction is expected to begin later this month on the
Singapore Flyer, which will feature 28 air-conditioned capsules
that treat tourists to a 37-minute ride as the wheel goes around.

The wheel will be built in Singapore's Marina Bay area, where
the city-state also plans to build a casino.

Peter Purcell, managing director of the project, said German
banks Delbrueck Bethmann Maffei and Bayerische Hypo-und
Vereinsbank are funding the project, which will cost 240 million
Singapore dollars (US$143 million; euro116 million).

"The most successful iconic visitor attractions anywhere in
the world are viewing platforms" such as the Eiffel Tower in
Paris, The Straits Times newspaper quoted Purcell as saying.

Singapore hopes 2.5 million people will visit its sightseeing
wheel in its first year of operation.

The London Eye, which offers a sweeping view of central
London, attracted some 3.5 million visitors in 2000, the year it
opened, and remains hugely popular.

Singapore's observation wheel is a joint venture between
Melchers Project Management, a German logistics and engineering
company, and Orient & Pacific Management, a consultancy based in
the British Virgin Islands, the newspaper reported.