Our Guest of Honour, Mr. Lim Boon Heng, Secretary-General of NTUC and Minister in Prime Minister's Office
Mr. Mah Bow Tan, Chairman of SLF and Minister for National Development
Mr. John De Payva, President of NTUC
Mr. Kim Oe Gon, Senior Executive Vice-President of Samsung Corporation
NTUC Central Committee members
SLF Directors
Distinguished guests
Ladies and Gentlemen.
On behalf of the Singapore Labour Foundation, I would like to extend a warm welcome to you to the Topping-Out Ceremony of One Marina Boulevard.
The ceremony today marks the completion of the second last phase of the project. The superstructure is ready and all that remains is the internal fitting-out work which is expected to be completed and ready for occupation in January 2004.
The building has come up fast - from the time the winning design was unveiled in August 2001, to the ground-breaking ceremony in February 2002 and to the Topping-Out Ceremony today. We have also ensured that the quality of the building is in keeping with its location in the new downtown. I am sure my colleagues in NTUC are as excited as I am in moving to our new office. As you can see, the view up here is beautiful. So do let us know if you require new office space.
Other than housing the NTUC Headquarters, which will be known as NTUC Centre, One Marina Boulevard will have a 600-seat auditorium, meeting and training rooms and a medical centre. These facilities will enable the NTUC to better serve the 420,000 union members in Singapore. The NTUC offices and facilities will occupy about one quarter of the available space of 38,000 square metres, while the rest of the space will be for lease.
As a statutory organisation set up to promote the welfare of union members and the labour movement, the SLF is proud to be given the land by Government to develop the NTUC Centre. It is our honour to build the new home for the labour movement.
On behalf of SLF, I would like to thank our Guest of Honour, Mr Lim Boon Heng, Secretary-General of NTUC and Minister in Prime Minister's Office for officiating the Topping-Out Ceremony.
I would now like to invite Mr Lim to address us.
