Chip Eng Seng unit bags HDB's $156m Punggol deal

http://www.straitstimes.com/Money/St...ry_274586.html

Sep 3, 2008 Wednesday

Chip Eng Seng unit bags HDB's $156m Punggol deal

By Jessica Cheam

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The latest HDB contract is for designing and building residential buildings with carpark and community facilities in Punggol West. -- ST FILE PHOTO

CHIP Eng Seng, a mainboard-listed construction firm, has clinched a $156 million design-and- build contract from the HDB.

In a statement to the Singapore Exchange, the company said its unit Chip Eng Seng Contractors (1988) had won the award to design and build residential buildings with carpark and community facilities in Punggol West.

The preparation and design work will take seven months and is expected to commence this month, said the firm.

Upon approval, construction will take 30 months, it added.

This latest award brings the firm's order book to $843 million from $687 million as at the end of June this year.

Executive chairman Lim Tiam Seng said the firm will 'be kept busy through to 2011' with the enlarged order book.

This is the group's third HDB contract for the year, following $123.5 million and $188 million deals awarded in June and January this year respectively.

It is also undertaking two other HDB projects, one in Sembawang. The other is Pinnacle @ Duxton, Singapore's tallest public housing project which will feature seven 50-storey blocks with communal and commercial facilities when completed.

The firm's shares rose 1.5 cents to 26.5 cents yesterday with 437,000 shares changing hands. Its market capitalisation is about $177 million.

Since the start of the year, Chip Eng Seng shares have lost about 57 per cent of their value, in line with the weak property sector.