China has always been ahead of most other nations when it comes to creativity and working at a fast pace. The Chinese project Country Garden’s Forest City near Singapore would be one of the finest examples of their “out of the box” thinking and efficient construction. Hardworking and ambitious workers are putting their efforts to the max to create the beautiful Forest City in the sea near Singapore. The project cost will be around $100 billion with an accommodation capacity of more than 70,000 people.The idea is to construct a city in the sea on four artificial islands with a huge area of about four times the size of the Central Park in New York City. The Forest City will have parks, coastal residences, shopping malls, offices, hotels, international schools, etc. surrounded by greenery and sea. Ah what a sight! Imagine living in such a beautiful place.
The construction began earlier this year in February and so far about 8,000 apartments have been sold. “These Chinese players build by the thousands at one go, and they scare the heck out of everybody,” said Siva Shanker, head of investments at Axis-REIT Managers Bhd. and a former president of the Malaysian Institute of Estate Agents. “God only knows who is going to buy all these units, and when it’s completed, the bigger question is, who is going to stay in them?” Critics believe that the people that will buy homes in Forest City will be significantly less than are being projected. This would ultimately be a devastating disaster to the project both in terms of money and resources.
After all, Chinese buyers claim that the cost of owning a place anywhere from as far back as Vancouver, Canada to Sydney, Australia has been soaring. So Chinese developers are reducing the cost of homes and apartments in Forest City and calling the project the new Shenzhen. Naturally, everyone is excited and are eagerly awaiting to see the project once it is completed.
Showroom of Country Garden Holdings Co.’s huge property showroom in southern Malaysia has displayed a model of this vast project. Companies like Showroom are constantly looking for opportunities abroad to create their desired projects, especially since there is little room for growth in China. Singapore is an ideal spot because of the relatively lower prices.
It is the largest among 60 existing projects in the Iskandar Malaysia zone. It will add more than half a million homes. As a result, there has been a drop in the sales of other residences providing leading companies a discount of more than 20%. The bright side of this is that even if we cannot afford a home in Forest City, we could get discounts on other plots. It’s a win-win situation!
The construction there was somewhat identical to the one in Shenzhen, China. The shopping malls, parks, etc., in the Johor Bahru have become a preferred spot for day trips by Singaporeans.
