Media

2017/25, 17 May 2017

China’s ambition to take the lead on the world stage was evident from the pomp and grandeur of the Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation held from 14-15 May 2017. The two-day forum – replete with speeches, gala dinners, performances, and a roundtable summit – as well as its wall-to-wall coverage on all of China’s major media platform left no doubt that China was making a play for global leadership at a time when the influence and attention of the world’s other major power, the United States, was found wanting.

2017/24, 17 May 2017

The Bandar Malaysia project was launched in May 2011; a 197ha development under the 1MDB Real Estate arm that was meant to be a new business district of Kuala Lumpur as well as a major transport node, housing the terminus of the High Speed Rail (HSR) to Singapore and perhaps Bangkok. After the fallout from 1MDB, Bandar Malaysia fell under the auspices of TRX City Sdn Bhd, a wholly-owned subsidy of Malaysia’s Ministry of Finance (MOF). In December 2015, 60% of Bandar Malaysia was sold to a consortium comprising Iskandar Waterfront City (now Iskandar Waterfront Holdings (IWH)) and the China Rail Engineering Corporation (CREC), a Chinese state-owned company, at a signed value of RM12.35 billion (S$4 billion). IWH-CREC thus became the master developer for Bandar Malaysia. The projected market value of that agreement today, based on the illustrated selling price of RM2000 psf, is RM42 billion (S$13.6 billion).