Sinnathamby’s father was a plantation worker in Malaysia. He was imprisoned by the Japanese during World War Two. His penniless family was suffering as there was no money with them. Through grit and determination, his family survived that trying time and Sinnathamby eventually migrated to Australia.
- Subjected to considerable struggles, Sinnathamby studied civil engineering and graduated from the University of New South Wales. For several years, he worked as a civil and design engineer in Southeast Asian countries before returning to Australia again.
- He started his own real estate development business in 1971 in Perth but moved to Queensland in 1980. He got some small residential and commercial projects in the region which he executed successfully.
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- In 1992, Bob Sharpless, an engineering friend, who had been known to Sinnathamby for many years joined him as a business partner. Both bought an area of 7067 acres of wasteland in Ipswich, located at south-west part of Brisbane at a throw away price of $7.9 Million.
- It required lots of guts to spend money in buying some land which had no commercial value at that time. Sinnathamby went from pillar to post in lobbying with the Brisbane authorities for getting basic amenities such as roads, infra structure, water, and electricity.
- At every step he faced obstacles. Sinnathamby was shunted out of the government offices at various stages. Though disappointed and dismayed, he did not give up.
- After 5 long years, in 1997, he got authorization as the Queensland Parliament approved the proposal of Sinnathamby to develop and build a city. The Greater Springfield City was designed as Australia’s largest Master community with focus on health, education, and technology.
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- It was the vision of Sinnathamby, and he made it to build an education city with the University of Southern Queensland, and with 10 public and private schools, which are currently the homes of 14,000 students. He also developed it as a health city.
- The city also has several golf courses which are designed by the renowned Greg Norman.
- An investment of $ 15 Billion has been made by public and private stake holders into the company of Greater Springfield Development Group, of which Sinnathamby is the Chairman. This city has a population of 35,000 now but is expected to cross over 100,000 by 2030.
- Another $85 Billion is expected to be spent on the development to make it a world class city. With his relentless hard work, and with the support of his team, Sinnathamby hopes to fulfil his vison.
- The government of Australia bestowed the highest civilian award of “Member of (AM) the order of Australia” on Sinnathamby in 2019.
- Sinnathamby is regarded and respected as a visionary city-builder. Unmindful of comforts, insults, delays, and abuses, Sinnathamby keeps going to achieve his goal. As of date his net worth is $1.83 Billion.
- This article is dedicated to those who face numerous obstacles on their paths of achieving success. Sinnathamby advises them all “stop not till the goal is reached.”
Content courtesy to Google, Wikipedia, Forbes, Greater Springfield website CNBC and several other magazines.
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