Whilst Las Vegas Sands at Marina Bay is reportedly in the process of refining its plans for Singapore’s first integrated casino resort, where construction is expected to start before the end of this year with completion by 2009, bidders for the other casino resort on Sentosa Island are preparing their submissions for the 10 October deadline. The seemingly contradictory concepts of family oriented and an Asian Monte Carlo have been suggested for Sentosa, and if there is one potential bidder able to combine the two elements it would be Kerzner International and Sol Kerzner.

The man with the vision and drive to carve a destination resort out of an extinct volcano in the South African veldt and go on to create an underwater paradise in The Bahamas, with many other successes between and following, is likely to be planning something exceptional for Singapore. The government has asked for an iconic design and Kerzner, together with architect Frank Gehry of Bilbao’s Guggenheim Museum fame, should be able to provide it. Sun City and Atlantis, Paradise Island have had profoundly beneficial long-term effects on the tourism markets of South Africa and The Bahamas, bringing in families as well as high rollers.

The Sentosa Island site, covering some 49 hectares, must appeal to tourists and 45% of the design points will now be awarded for this – it was 40% for Marina Bay. Architecture will account for 25% - down from 30% for Marina Bay – so the bidders will have to produce a real tourist draw. Rival Genting International will be presenting a scheme that includes Universal Studios but Kerzner and partner CapitaLand will probably not tie-up with a third-party operator for its planned US$1.5 billion development. The total cost of the Sentosa project is expected to be over US$2 billion when the price of the land is added and the winning bid should be announced before the end of the year. (E-07.13.06)

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