Expo center in a league of its own - Singapore

Business Asia, Nov 2, 1998

Singapore will firmly cement its entry into the super league of convention cities next March when a huge new exhibition centre called Singapore Expo opens its doors.

With 60,000 square metres allocated for phase one and an additional 40,000 square metres planned for the second phase, Singapore Expo will be the largest purpose-built exhibition centre in Asia outside Japan.

The column-free structure will feature six ground-level exhibition halls, each the size of two football fields, plus an outdoor exhibition centre, a convention centre, restaurants and other support services.

Owned and funded by the Singapore Government, the complex will be managed by the Port of Singapore Authority (PSA), which has owned and operated another local exhibition site - the World Trade Centre - since 1978.

PSA has signed a memorandum of understanding with Messe Dusseldorf, a German exhibition venue manager for the exchange of information, expertise and technology in exhibition facility management and personnel training.

The state-of-the-art technology will include a CAT-5 cable network and fibre optic backbone allowing for advanced worldwide communication links.

"There is, however, definitely a cutback in terms of square metres in exhibitions and the number of rooms required per event," said Mr Klaus Jurgen Scholz, managing director of the Singapore International Convention and Exhibition Centre (SICEC).

For now, Singapore Expo officials are focusing their marketing efforts on Europe and North America.

About 35 shows are already booked for Singapore Expo in 1999.

The complex offers a quantum leap in exhibition space.

Currently, the World Trade Centre and the SICEC at Suntec City have 24,000 square metres each, while the Westin Stamford and Plaza hotels offer about 5000 square metres combined.