NEW DELHI – ChinesePresident Xi Jinping has invitedIndian Prime Minister NarendraModi to attend a summit of theAsia-Pacific EconomicCooperation (Apec) trade groupin November, sending amessage of cooperation duringthe first meeting between theleaders of the world’s mostpopulous countries.

Mr Xi and Mr Modi, whotook power in May, met for 80minutes soon after their arrivalat a summit of the Brics groupof emerging powers. Mr Xi saidthe two countries should joinhands in setting global rulesand suggested that Mr Modiattend the November meetingof the 21-nation Apec inBeijing, as well as take part inChinese-led regional initiatives.

India has never attended anApec summit, and has longsought to become a member tohelp boost its economy.

Mr Xi also called for speedynegotiations to settle disputesover the 4,000km Himalayanborder over which India andChina went to war in 1962 and

which have flared in recentyears over allegations ofcross-border incursions.

Mr Modi called forstrengthening “mutual trust”and maintaining peace on theborder, the government said ina statement.

His Bharatiya Janata Partyhas campaigned for a strongnational security posture, but

Mr Modi has sought to build ona booming trade relationshipwith China while trying tobalance India’s securityinterests. He sought Chineseinvestment in Indianinfrastructure projects whichhe suggested would helpaddress the trade imbalancecurrently in Beijing’s favour.REUTERS

Some of the photos sent in by participants in the contest organised by an anti-littering group: (clockwise from above) litter floating in Marina Reservoir, near MarinaBay Sands; trash left behind at Pasir Ris Park; and piles of rubbish on a road divider in Prinsep Street. PHOTOS: WITONO HALIM, YONG YOKE KENG, ALICE KHO

Xi invites Modito Apec summitin November

By DAVID EE

IMAGINE this: a picturesque baywith glittering waters and aworld-famous skyline... and float-ing garbage everywhere in sight.

Meanwhile, tranquil beachesand parks are left littered withtrash such as plastic bottles oncethe visitors have gone home.

Does not sound like Singaporeto you? Think again.

An anti-littering volunteergroup, the Waterways Watch Soci-ety (WWS), organised what tomany might have sounded like anodd contest for a country with aworldwide reputation for beingspotless. It asked Singaporeans tosend in photographs of some ofthe dirtiest places here betweenFebruary and April this year. Itpicked 10 winners in May fromabout 60 submissions.

Shots emerged of a part of Mari-na Reservoir close to Marina BaySands literally covered in a sea oftrash washed in by rain.

In another, a road divider alongPrinsep Street was piled with somuch rubbish it resembled anopen dumping ground; as did Pa-sir Ris Park after picnickers bra-zenly left their leftovers behind.

The dozens of photographssent in showed void decks, parksand roadsides from Toa Payoh tothe Central Business Districtstrewn with rubbish. “It wasn’t asurprise for us,” said WWS chair-man Eugene Heng, who plans tomake the contest annual and postthe most striking photos on itsFacebook page. “For our group,whenever we go out, our missionis to look for litter. And the sadthing is, we’re never disappoint-ed. We always find litter.”

Singapore’s reliance on an ar-my of about 70,000 cleaners tokeep the island spick and span hasbeen highlighted more regularlysince November 2012, when KeepSingapore Clean head Liak TengLit called the nation “a cleanedcity, not a clean city”.

In that same month, Prime Min-ister Lee Hsien Loong said thatpeople were getting blase about lit-

tering and that standards of clean-liness were slipping.

MPs such as Nee Soon GRC’sMs Lee Bee Wah occasionally givecleaners in their wards a day offso that residents can see the littersituation for themselves.

This Saturday, Minister for theEnvironment and Water Resourc-es Vivian Balakrishnan will join alitter-picking session in BedokSouth, where the WWS plans toexhibit selected photos.

The perception that Singaporeis clean persists largely becauseworkers sweep up litter “365 daysa year”, said Mr Liak. “Most Singa-poreans don’t leave home until7am or so. By that time, the clean-ers have already done their firstround,” he said, adding that wetmarkets and hawker centres areproblem areas. Carparks, planterboxes, parks and the ground floorof HDB blocks also attract litter-bugs, he said, while events likeconcerts often leave a mess.

“In the 1980s and 1990s, wewere clean. Because of educationand very firm enforcement, peo-ple did not dare litter,” said Mr Li-ak. “But enforcement has gonedown compared with before...More and more people are notafraid of being caught.”

Civil servant Alice Kho, 31,who submitted the Prinsep Streetphoto, said other passers-by whosaw the rubbish did not bat an eye-lid. “Maybe it becomes a normalthing for some people. They getused to it.”

The Government has beencracking down on littering. OnApril 1, it doubled the penalties.Recalcitrant litterbugs now facefines ranging from $2,000 to$10,000. A volunteer corps wasalso set up to take them to task.

Mr Heng, whose volunteershave found bicycles and even tele-vision sets in the Kallang Basin,said of the photo contest: “Onekey point is to tell people: ‘Youthink Singapore is clean? It’s not.’

“We hope to shock people, tomake them ask why it’s like this.”

davidee@sph.com.sgL SEE FORUM A22

By CHERYL ONG

THE record-breaking sales of newprivate homes in May became adistant memory last month whentransactions fell off a cliff as devel-opers put out fewer projects.

Potential buyers also turnedtheir attention to the World Cupand stayed on the sidelines due tothe school holidays, market watch-ers said.

Developers sold only 482 unitslast month, down 67.6 per centfrom the all-time monthly high of

1,488 recorded in May.June’s figures were the lowest

since the 480 sales figure inMarch and brought new condotransactions for the first half to4,466 – down 56 per cent fromthe same period a year ago.

If executive condominiums areincluded, 531 units were sold inJune, according to Urban Redevel-opment Authority (URA) data yes-terday.

May’s sales were kick-startedby developers putting moreprojects with lower prices on the

market but that strategy was aban-doned last month.

“Developers focused on mov-ing units in previously launcheddevelopments, and generallyavoided releasing new projectsamid the June school holidays andWorld Cup season,” said Ms ChiaSiew Chuin, director of researchand advisory at Colliers.

Sales at new launches tend toslow to a trickle after the initialrush, holding developers backfrom releasing new projects, add-ed Mr Ong Teck Hui, national di-rector of research and consultan-cy at Jones Lang LaSalle.

The 944-unit Coco Palms indi-cates the wild swings in the mar-ket between May and June.

The City Developments projectwas May’s top seller with 580units sold at a median price of$1,018 per sq ft (psf). It was thetop seller again last month but at-tained its position this time byshifting only 55 homes at a medi-an price of $1,014 psf.

May’s numbers look an aberra-tion given the generally flat mar-ket and a recovery is not on thecards, as any sustained sales pick-up would be reined in by rules onlending, Mr Ong said.

Roxy-Pacific’s 222-unit Trilivein Kovan and Wing Tai’s469-unit The Crest in PrinceCharles Crescent were the onlyprojects launched last month andmade up the bulk of the 418 new

homes put on the market.Mass-market units continued

to lead sales in June, with 269shifted in the suburbs. City-fringe projects sold 167 newhomes while only 46 were sold inthe city centre.

“Even though the private resi-dential market was soft, someprojects still enjoyed relativelygood sales if they were perceivedto be attractively priced by buy-ers,” said SLP International re-search head Nicholas Mak. “Buy-ing demand was not totally absentin the market but it had to bedrawn out by attractive pricing.”

Wheelock Properties’ The Pano-rama in Ang Mo Kio was the sec-ond best seller last month after

Coco Palms. It moved 49 units ata median price of $1,287 psf withThe Crest next on 35 units at a me-dian price of $1,682 psf.

Consultants noted that homeseekers will remain selective inthis half of the year, with theproject’s location and price pointsas the main drivers of demand.

Ms Alice Tan, research head atKnight Frank, expects upcominglaunches such as Keppel Land’sThe Highline Residences andWorld Class Land’s City Gate tounderpin sales in this quarter,while Mr Joseph Tan, head of resi-dential sales at CBRE, expects theyear’s sales tally to come in be-tween 8,000 and 9,000 units.

ocheryl@sph.com.sg

FORTALEZA (Brazil) – Leaders ofthe Brics group of emerging pow-ers were meeting to launch a newdevelopment bank and a reservefund seen as counterweights toWestern-led financial institu-tions.

Brazilian President Dilma Rous-seff hosted the leaders of Russia,India, China and South Africa inFortaleza yesterday ahead of talkswith South American leaders to-day in Brasilia.

The summit comes as the econ-omies of some Brics countries,which together represent 40 percent of the world population and afifth of the global economy, arecooling down. Russia and Brazilare expected to see growth of just1 per cent this year.

The five emerging nations un-veiled last year their plans to cre-ate the bank, which aims to rivalthe Washington-based WorldBank while the reserve is seen as a“mini-IMF”, after the Internation-al Monetary Fund. The creation ofthe bank will give a backbone tothe Brics, which is not a formal in-ternational organisation, said MrMarcos Troyjo, Brazilian directorof BRICLab research centre atNew York’s Columbia University.

“They are only taking theirfirst steps towards a platform for

building consensus on internation-al agenda items such as rules forinternational trade, joint action atthe UN or the WTO,” he said, re-ferring to the United Nations andthe World Trade Organisation.

The bank will have an initialcapital of US$50 billion (S$62 bil-lion) with each country contribut-ing an equal share. The bank is“key to foster growth for the Bricscountries”, Brazilian Industry andCommerce Minister Mauro Borg-es said.

The reserve fund will haveUS$100 billion at its disposal,with China making the biggestcontribution of US$41 billion, fol-lowed by US$18 billion each fromBrazil, India and Russia and US$5billion from South Africa.

Despite their agreement on theneed for a bank, the five countriesare split on where it should beheadquartered.

Shanghai is seen as the frontrunner to host the bank but SouthAfrica insists on having it in Johan-nesburg. New Delhi and Moscoware the other candidates.

The five nations are also negoti-ating who should hold the bank’srotating presidency first and themake-up of the board.

After the Brics group meetsSouth American presidents in Bra-

silia today, Chinese President XiJinping will launch the China-Lat-in America forum, highlightingBeijing’s growing interests in a re-gion historically tied economicallyto the United States.

Mr Xi had said ahead of theBrics powwow that China will ded-icate itself to“perfecting” the roledeveloping countries play in inter-national affairs to give them bet-ter representation and a greatersay. “We will... dedicate our-selves to perfecting the interna-tional system of governance andproactively push for expandingthe representation and right tospeak for developing countries ininternational affairs,” Mr Xi saidin an interview with South Ameri-can media released by China’s For-eign Ministry. “We will come upwith more Chinese proposals andcontribute China’s wisdom,” headded, without elaborating.

But China faces deep suspicionabout its motives, not least fromIndia, and there have also beenconcerns in the group that Chinacould hijack the new bank to serveits own interests. Mr Xi appearedto dismiss these concerns, sayingChina did not believe it was des-tined to dominate others just be-cause of its growing strength.AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE, REUTERS

Only 482 units sold last month againstMay’s all-time monthly high of 1,488

Best-selling projects in June

Coco PalmsThe PanoramaThe CrestCommonwealth TowersThe Skywoods

ProjectsCity DevelopmentsWheelock PropertiesWing Tai Hong Leong HoldingsTA Corporation

Developer944698469845420

Totalunits

1,0141,2871,6821,721

1,235

Medianprice

($ psf)5549352419

Unitssold inJune

635202

35296101

Totalunitssold

ST GRAPHICSSource: URA

Contest to snap Singapore’s dirtiest places bares it all

New private home salesdown 67.6% in June

Brics set to launch bank and fund Indian PrimeMinisterNarendraModimeetingChinesePresidentXi Jinpingduring thesixth Bricssummit inthe Braziliancity ofFortaleza onMonday.Mr Xi saidthat Chinaand Indiashould joinhands insettingglobal rules.

PHOTO:AGENCE

FRANCE-PRESSE

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