The official inauguration on September 19 of the largest integrated leisure and lifestyle destination in the country, is expected to open up a new market segment for local and international travellers.

The megaproject highlights a strategic move by Singha Estate and is the company’s largest investment in a foreign country with Phase 1 comprising two resorts (SAii Lagoon Maldives, a Curio Collection by Hilton, and Hard Rock Hotel Maldives) and The Marina @ CROSSROADS, worth a total of US$ 300 million.

The location of Emboodhoo Lagoon is a mere 15-minute speedboat ride from Velena International Airport and Malé capital city.

The first island is home to the vibrant lifestyle district and heart of the megaproject, The Marina @ CROSSROADS – an 11,000 sqm retail and entertainment space.

Due to its proximity to the city, the attraction serves to inspire the meeting of cultures between locals and visitors, very much the same way the country had done in the past, catering to a variety of lifestyle inclinations including luxury shopping, fine dining, a state-of-the-art event hall, and PADI-certified water sports and dive centre.

A transit hotel, SAii Lagoon Maldives, a Curio Collection by Hilton, targets short-term visitors who can enjoy the facilities at the town centre during their stopover for connecting flights.

The sustainable development aspect of the project can be seen at the Maldives Discovery Centre, an interactive educational-centre-cum-museum that promotes environmental conservation and local arts and crafts.

Another is the Marine Discovery Centre, a coral conservation hub that hosts biologists who carry out research through a Junior Coral Curator programme and a clownfish release initiative. It covers an area of 64,000 square metres.

The second island is Hard Rock Hotel Maldives, developed and managed by S Hotels & Resorts.

The hotel pioneers music-inspired stays featuring a full range of signature experiences and facilities for all ages. Hard Rock Hotel Maldives is also considered to be the brand’s first Maldivian outpost.

Crafted under the tagline “CROSSROADS: Where Cultures Meet”, the project honours Maldives’ historical greatness as a crossroads of ancient maritime trade routes between the East and the West, resulting in a glorious marriage of old-world French designs and design concepts from Portugal, China, and Britain.

At the official opening ceremony, the CROSSROADS executive team was honoured by the presence of His Excellency Faisal Naseem, vice president of the Republic of Maldives.

Chutinant Bhirombhakdi, Chairman of Singha Estate Public Company Limited, said: “With CROSSROADS, we are making history. The project has been an exciting and challenging venture to plan and implement for all parties involved: Thai, Maldivian, and international. And today officially marks our first outstanding achievement. By being the largest integrated leisure and entertainment destination in the Maldives, CROSSROADS will help maintain the notable and continuously rising tourism markets such as China, India, and Middle East, and attract new market segments of family and locals to the Maldives. CROSSROADS is going to redefine vacation experience in the Maldives and the entire Indian Ocean region while also being deeply sustainable and considerate of its environment, history, and culture.”

Naris Cheyklin, the company’s chief executive officer added that while setting sight on promoting tourism and the local economy, CROSSROADS’ is also committed to sustainable development through the balance of business, the local community, and the environment.

“Throughout the development, we ensured that the project will have the least minimum impact to the community and the environment. The balance of the ecosystem is fundamental to Singha Estate’s development philosophy and maintaining that balance is our main goal. All of the projects’ megastructures were made in Thailand before being shipped to the Maldives in giant container vessels to avoid harming coral reefs and sea-life. Successively, CROSSROADS will be home to the eight new wonders of the Maldives consisted of coral village, iconic tuna sculptures, sunset point, and Emboodhoo canyon, for instance.” said Naris.

He said that 16 property listed companies in the Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET) had revise down their business plans to launch residential projects. The previous 290 projects worth Bt440 billion in this year have been down-sized to 237 projects worth Bt370 billion, a drop of 53 projects worth Bt70 billion. The market has continued to drop after the Bank of Thailand restricted approvals for loan to value or LTV effective on April 1, 2019.

He added that total revenues for the 16 listed property companies in the SET have signed to drop in the second quarter of this year, and are also continuing to drop in the third quarter of this year as demand in the market drops.

In the last quarter of the year 2018, 16 listed property companies recorded total revenue of Bt81.55 billion, while the first quarter of 2019 reported Bt65.46 billion, a 19.7 per cent drop.

Furthermore, the total revenue has been reported at Bt49.83 billion for the second quarter of 2019, a 23.87 per cent plunge from the first quarter of this year.

“They show their total revenue has dropped since the first quarter of this year till the second quarter of this year [after also dropping] from the last quarter of last year. They also have continued to have signed to drop in the third and the fourth quarters of this year. This is the reason that most of them have revised down the launching of their new residential projects in the rest of this year and tried to sell their inventory in the market,” Terdsak said.

Meanwhile, in the first half of this year 16 listed property firms recorded a total backlog of Bt330 billion for units that are already sold but are awaiting transfer when the projects are completed. Of them, up to Bt40 billion are low-rise residences, including single detached houses and townhouses, while the next Bt158 billion are condominium projects that the firms developed by themselves, with the next Bt132 billion comprised condos developed through joint venture firms with their foreign partners. Some of them will be completed and transferred over the course of this year, with the rest transferred in 2020 to 2022.

“When combined with the new projects launched in this year, we forecast all of them will take time to sell over the next two years [even if there are] no new products launched in the market. If they have more new projects launched, it will take a term longer than two years [to sell],” Terdsak said.

The Real Estate Information Centre’s acting director-general, Wichai Virataphan, said the centre forecasts that new transfers of residential projects in this year will drop by up to 7.7 per cent in term of units and drop 2.7 per cent in terms of value in the condominium market. He attributes the impact to the LTV measure that reduced the purchasing power of buyers in the middle and lower income markets.