Organised by Vestas Wind Systems from Denmark in collaboration with Vietnam’s Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT), the workshop attracted many foreign experts in the field of wind energy and representatives of organisations and agencies.

Nguyen Ngoc Hung of the MoIT’s Institute of Energy said Vietnam had turned into a net energy importer since 2015.

Results of a business-as-usual (BAU) scenario show that Vietnam could achieve an average growth of 7 per cent a year from 2016-35 in the wind energy sector by mobilising funds and improving efficiency of capital use.

There are four wind power projects in the country, in in Bac Lieu, Binh Dinh and Binh Thuan provinces. Around 50 wind power projects have been registered.

Vu Chi Mai of MoIT said: “Wind speed potential in the central provinces of Ninh Thuan and Bnh Thuan is higher than in other provinces in the country.”

Experts from Vestas discussed technical solutions for turbine selection; successful grid connection and compliance; on-time, on-scope project delivery; and operation and maintenance of wind farms.

Michael Perkins, a wind and site specialist, said: “Maximum value could be captured while minimising development risk to achieve the optimal technical and commercial solution.”

The investment director of the Investment Fund for Developing Countries, Otto Vinther Christensen, said that Vietnam should learn lessons from other countries that had invested in wind power.

It is important to avoid bureaucratic and cumbersome legislation, have strong project management, know-how to obtain local financing, tackle infrastructure bottlenecks, and take advantage of cheap labour, according to Christensen.

Vesta is one of the world’s largest wind service provider.

The regulation would take effect starting next year, an official has said. Bank Indonesia head of transformation Onny Widjanarko said the regulation on e-money would be issued in the near future.

“Currently, there is no single regulation for those who carry out transactions using Bitcoin,” Onny said in Jakarta on Tuesday as reported by kompas.com.

He said the central bank was currently carrying out an in-depth study to determine whether the central bank would include a ruling on Bitcoin in the prevailing e-money regulation or in a separate regulation on cryptocurrency.

Therefore, BI called on merchants not to accept Bitcoin as an official payment instrument as the bank would not be responsible for any losses incurred through transactions, Onny said.

He said that Bitcoin could potentially be used to violate prevailing regulations on terrorism, money laundering, prostitution and drug trafficking.

Countries hold different stances on Bitcoin, with China and Russia rejecting it while Japan accepts it as a payment instrument. Bitcoin transactions are made with neither middle men nor banks. There are no transaction fees and transactions can be made anonymously.

Some 40,029,786 Alliance Mineral shares belonging to substantial shareholder Living Waters Mining Australia (LWMA) were seized. LWMA is a private company wholly owned by Alliance Mineral’s chief executive Tjandra Adi Pramoko, and his wife, executive director Simone Suen Sze Man.

The seizure is, however, limited to LWMA or Tjandra satisfying payment of about S$5.48 million to Grande Pacific. This amount includes S$5.46 million pursuant to the settlement agreement between the parties, being the difference between the strike price of S$0.50 per share and the volume weighted average price of S$0.3815 per share.

In a Singapore Exchange filing yesterday, Alliance said that it understands from LWMA’s legal counsel that only the number of seized shares required to satisfy the debt will be sold. The actual number of seized shares sold will be determined based on the prevailing market price of the firm’s shares at the time of the sale. Any remaining unsold seized shares will be transferred back to LWMA.

Additionally, a further 46,074,788 shares in Alliance Mineral held by LWMA continue to be frozen as security for the sum payable.

“The payment of the debt through the sale of the seized shares is expected to satisfy the sum payable,” Alliance Mineral said.

It added that once this has been fully paid, the injunction over the frozen shares is expected to be discharged.

Clark International Airport, formerly known as the Diosdado Macapagal International Airport, is in Pampanga while NAIA – also known as Manila Airport – is the main international gateway to the Philippines.

The administration of President Rodrigo Duterte aims to finish the new passenger terminal, which would bring Clark Airport’s existing capacity of four million passengers annually to 12 million passengers, by 2020.

The Bases Conversion and Development Authority (BCDA), which is handling the Clark expansion project, checked on Tuesday the eligibility of bidders keen on the project’s design, engineering, and construction contract, valued at 12.55 billion pesos.

With the expansion, the government hopes to lure more travellers to Clark Airport, helping ease congestion that is plaguing NAIA.

Among those that submitted on Tuesday was the team of Megawide Construction Corp. and GMR Infrastructure (Singapore) Pte. Ltd. The pairing already operates the Mactan Cebu International Airport.

The six other groups were China State Construction Engineering Corp. Ltd., China Harbour Engineering Co. Ltd., Sinohydro Corp. Limited, DDT Konstract, Inc., R-II Builders, Inc., and Tokwing Construction Corp.

Joshua Bingcang, chair of the BCDA special bids and awards committee, said he was satisfied with the turnout, noting that more than half of the 12 groups that bought bid documents submitted offers.

“This is a relatively high number for us,” he told reporters at the sidelines of the event.

Tuesday’s exercise was meant to determine which groups are qualified to build the Clark Airport. Technical and financial bids of qualified groups would later be evaluated by the BCDA on December 7 and December 14, respectively.

The contract is slated to be awarded on December 15, and a groundbreaking ceremony is being targeted on December 20.

The expansion of Clark International Airport is among the first hybrid public-private partnership deals that were rolled out under the Duterte administration.

Under this scheme, the government will finance the construction of the terminal while the private sector will later be invited for the operations and maintenance component.

Bingcang said they were eyeing the operations and maintenance component to be awarded on March 2018.

Successive administrations have struggled to increase usage at Clark. Despite its capacity of four million passengers annually, it serves about a quarter of that figure.

Its critics point to its 100 kilometre distance from Manila.

To help address this, the Duterte administration said it would pursue a 106-kilometre train line that would link Manila and Clark by 2022. The train project, to be funded by loans from the Japanese government, would cost over 300 billion pesos.

The dental clinic operator said in an exchange filing that under the programme, notes may be issued in any currency, in various amounts and tenors, and may bear interest |at fixed, floating, variable, hybrid |or other rates, or not bear any interest.

Perpetual securities may be issued in any currency, in various amounts, and may confer a right to receive distribution at fixed or floating rates, in each case as may be agreed between the relevant dealers of the securities and the issuer.

The group said that the net proceeds arising from the issue of the securities under the programme will be used for “general corporate purposes”, including financing acquisitions and investments, refinancing of borrowings and financing of working capital and capital expenditure requirements of the issuer and its subsidiaries.

On Monday, Q&M Dental Group said that its subsidiary, Q&M Medical Group Singapore (QMGS), is selling its medical aesthetic and laser unit for S$242,000.

It entered into an agreement with Dr Felix Li Jingxiang on Nov 28, to dispose all of its shares in Q&M Medical Aesthetic & Laser Centre (QMAL).

A sum of S$50,000 had been paid on December 1, with the completion of the share disposal, while the remaining amount will be payable via monthly instalments of S$12,000 over a period of 16 months from the date of completion of the share disposal.

No reason was given for the proposed disposal.

Q&M opened at S$0.625 on Wednesday.

Both companies inked four memorandums of understanding yesterday as well as two management agreements for the design and development of JW Marriott in Kuala Lumpur Sentral and the EDITION, which shall be located close to KLCC.

Managing director Tan Sri Francis Yeoh said the group’s 20-year relationship with Marriott International has been pivotal to the growth of YTL Hotels in Malaysia, Asia and the UK. “We are delighted to expand our hospitality footprint in Asia through Marriott International.

“Through illustrious Marriott International brands such as The Ritz-Carlton, JW Marriott, and Autograph Collection, we seek to offer our guests experiences that will make memories for a lifetime,” said Yeoh. YTL Hotels’ second JW Marriott hotel will be strategically located near Kuala Lumpur Sentral, offering guests seamless connectivity and easy access to the city’s premier business and leisure destinations.

Meanwhile, the Edition in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia’s first, will boast a prestigious address neighbouring KLCC.

In Japan, the new Edition and W hotels shall further complement the luxury hotel experience in the fully integrated Niseko Village.

YTL Hotels’ presence in Niseko Village, Hokkaido is growing with the upcoming development of a Ritz-Carlton Reserve, which offers personalised and private luxury resort experience.

The ski resort currently features two existing hotels with ski-in ski-out accommodation and a collection of bespoke townhouses.

Malaysia Airlines (MAS) announced a partnership with Interglobe Technologies Pvt Ltd (IGT) to enhance its customer service capabilities via social customer service support.

The partnership will enable the airline to provide 24/7 responses to passengers queries on Facebook as well as Twitter and in English, Bahasa Malaysia and Mandarin.

“Our customer is at the centre of everything we do and this collaboration will enable us to respond to our customers faster and more efficiently.

“We have been expanding and improving our customer service offering and this collaboration is an important component of that with constant support now provided for most issues they face,” said Malaysia Airlines chief commercial officer Arved von zur Muehlen.

“Digital development has been the forefront of our customer experience and I am very pleased to announce this partnership with IGT, a leader in travel technology. This innovative solution will provide a five-star digital experience for our customers worldwide,” he added. – The Star

Indonesia could lead in decorative fish exports

Indonesia’s Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Minister Susi Pudjiastuti says Indonesia has huge potential to overtake Singapore in the export of decorative fish, taking into account of the country’s large maritime territory.

“Data from 2016 shows that Indonesia is the fifth-biggest decorative fish-exporting country with [global] market share of 7.13 per cent, lower than Singapore’s market share of 12.44 per cent,” Susi said in Jakarta on Tuesday as reported by kompas.com.

She said Singapore’s decorative fish exports from 2007 to 2016 had declined by about 4.47 per cent annually, while Indonesian decorative fish exports had grown by 15.17 per cent annually.

Susi said her ministry was ready to cooperate with businesses and other relevant government institutions to boost decorative fish exports.

“How come a country 100 times larger than Singapore depends on the smaller country for marketing [decorative fish]? We, in the Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Ministry, are ready to help other institutions [to boost decorative fish exports],” she added.

Susi said the government could facilitate decorative fish businesses in increasing their exports through various programs like establishing a decorative fish business forum, helping display decorative fish at various events and marketing them abroad. – Jakarta Post

China firms to invest $7 bn in Cambodia

Chinese companies have pledged $7 billion to further investment in Cambodia during Prime Minister Hun Sen’s visit to Beijing, according to a government statement released late last week.

A series of formal agreements solidifying the pledge, which is expected to create 20,000 jobs, is scheduled to take place before China’s Prime Minister Li Keqiung visits the Kingdom in January.

The new investment projects by Greenland Holding Group Co and Henan Transport Investment Group may include construction of a satellite city and vocational training centre near the capital, tourism and recreational facilities, highways and a large-scale commercial bank. – The Phnom Penh Post

November inflation in RP eases to 3.3%

Inflation in the Philippines slightly eased to 3.3 per cent in November on slower increases of food prices and the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas on Tuesday said it expected to hit the 3.2-per cent forecast for the year.

The Philippine Statistics Authority reported that the rate of increase in the prices of basic goods last month slowed from the three-year high of 3.5 percent in October, although it was faster than the 2.5 percent recorded in November last year.

As of November, headline inflation averaged 3.2 per cent.

“The easing of inflation in November was expected following October’s peak. We’re still on track with 3.2-percent inflation for 2017, just about the midpoint of the target range,” BSP Governor Nestor Espenilla Jr said. – Philippines Daily Inquirer