SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Singapore, struggling to lure back tourists in the aftermath of SARS, has joined a race to build the world’s highest Ferris wheel.
Singapore unveiled on Friday plans for a S$200 million (69 million pounds), 170-metre (558 foot ) Ferris wheel that would swing 35 metres (114 ft) above the current world record holder, the London Eye that peers above the River Thames.
Shanghai and Las Vegas have also announced plans to build record-breaking Ferris wheels.
The "Singapore Flyer", about the height of a 45-storey building, will carry 32 air-conditioned capsules, each holding as many as 25 people and providing views of Singapore’s waterfront and neighbouring Malaysia and southern Indonesia.
City planners hope the observation wheel, due to be completed in 2005, will become a major urban icon and magnet for tourism, which was devastated in Singapore by an outbreak of SARS that killed 32 people in the city state.
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"A landmark concept, the Singapore Flyer is set to become the ultimate waterfront dining and entertainment themed attraction for Singapore," a Singapore Tourism Board press release said.
Since its opening in March 2000, more than 8.5 million people have visited the London Eye, which occupies a prime riverside spot opposite another landmark, the Houses of Parliament, making it one of London’s most popular attractions.
The Singapore Tourism Board expects the Singapore Flyer to attract more than 2.5 million tourists in the first year for the 35-minute journey, half from overseas. Unlike the London Eye, Singapore’s observation wheel would continually rotate.
Designed by Kisho Kurakawa Architects & Associates, the project will be paid for and built by a unit of German logistics and engineering group Melchers Gmbh & Co in the largest-ever foreign direct investment for a Singapore visitor attraction.
