SINGAPORE (June 6): The Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) today released the 2H19 Government Land Sales (GLS) Programme, comprising five confirmed list sites and eight reserve list sites.
The five confirm list sites – Bartley Road/Jalan Bunga Rampai, Irwell Bank Road, Canberra Drive Parcel A and B, as well as Fernvale Lane – are private residential sites, including one executive condominium (EC) site (Fernvale Lane), yielding about 1,715 private residential units.
The eight reserve list sites comprise four residential sites – Dairy Farm Walk, Dunman Road, Hillview Rise and Tampines Street 62 (EC); three white sites – Marina View, Woodlands Avenue 2 and Kampong Bugis; and one hotel site on River Valley Road.
These sites can yield about 4,715 private residential units, 92,000 sqm GFA of commercial space and 1,100 hotel rooms.
The Kampong Bugis white site was first unveiled by URA in 2017. Strategically located at the mouth of Kallang River, the site is envisioned to be an attractive waterfront residential precinct that is car-lite, community-centric and sustainable.
The intention is for a single developer to comprehensively master plan the site, and implement district-wide urban solutions (e.g. district-wide pneumatic waste conveyance system and a storm water treatment and water management system) for a smarter, greener and more sustainable housing typology.
The site can potentially yield about 4,000 private residential units and an additional 50,000 sqm for complementary uses.
The entire Kampong Bugis precint is estimated to be completed over nine to 11 years.
Apart from Kampong Bugis, the other white site at Woodlands Avenue 2 is intended to be a mixed-use development to sustain the development momentum of Woodlands Regional Centre as a major commercial node outside the city, in line with the government’s objective of bringing job opportunities closer to homes.
The hotel site at River Valley Road is a newcomer on the 2H19 reserve list. The government has plans for this hotel development to be integrated with Fort Canning MRT station and located within walking distance to Clarke Quay and Fort Canning Park.
Together with the existing White site at Marina View, which has been carried over from the 1H2019 GLS Programme, they will provide ample opportunities for developers to initiate additional supply of hotel rooms over and above the current pipeline supply.
All 13 sites yield a total of 6,430 private residential units, 92,000 sqm gross floor area (GFA) of commercial space and 1,100 hotel rooms.
In the pipeline, there is a large supply of about 44,000 private housing units, comprising around 39,000 unsold units from GLS en-bloc sales sites with planning approval, and an additional 5,000 units from sites that are pending planning approval.
There are also about 24,000 existing private housing units that are still vacant.
However, due to the property cooling measures implemented in July 2018, demand has continued to decline, with the overall transaction volume dropping for the third straight quarter in 1Q19. The cooling measures have also cause developers’ demand for land to moderate.
Hence, the government said that it has decided to reduce the supply of private residential units on the confirmed list for the GLS programme.
In a news release issued on Thursday, the Ministry of National Development (MND) says, “Together with the supply in the pipeline, the supply for the 2H19 GLS Programme will sufficiently cater to the housing needs of our population.”
In comparison, the 1H19 GLS Programme comprised 14 sites – five confirmed list and nine reserve list.
To date, four confirmed list sites have been launched for tender and the remaining site at one-north Gateway will be launched for tender this month.
Meanwhile, the reserve list site at Sims Avenue has been removed from 1H19 reserve list to facilitate a review of development plans in the area. The reserve list site at Canberra Drive will be re-parcelled into two smaller parcels for design variety in a low rise residential estate.
Therefore, seven residential sites and two white sites were carried over from 1H19 reserve list to 2H19.
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