More CBD sites for office use
Government plans to ease the squeeze by releasing more white sites: Minister
The squeeze in the Central Business District (CBD) area may have sent office rents sky-high, but the Government looks set to release more land to ease the demand.
National Development Minister Mah Bow Tan said the Government would step up the quantum of releasing white sites — that can be used for mixed development, such as commercial and residential — in the area.
“I think the quantum will have to be stepped up, whether it’s one site or several sites … because we see there is a tightening up of the supply,” he told reporters at an event yesterday.
In May, the Government will release one white site — situated at Central Boulevard — and more will follow, he said.
“The Central Boulevard site is the next phase of development so after the second site is awarded and depending on the market situation, we will probably move down south,” he said.
The crunch on supply of office space has sent rental prices soaring over the past few years. According to a Debenham Tie Leung (DTZ) report, prime rentals in Raffles Place rose by 28 per cent in the first quarter of this year, averaging $10.90 per square foot — past the peak of 1996.
As a sign of growing confidence in Singapore’s property market, the Government will also add more sites to the confirmed list — which means that land is put up for tender at a pre-determined date, without the need for it to be triggered by any application.
Said Mr Mah: “For the first half, we have already put a lot more into the confirmed list which is quite a significant departure from previous years and we’ll probably need to do more of that as we go along.”
Apart from its land sales, the Government is also prepared to release existing sites for temporary use, such as freeing up vacated government buildings for office use. “Another area is to encourage more people to make better use of existing sites,” he said.
But Mr Mah believes that all these measures “will deal not just with the immediate problem but also with the longer term issue of supply and demand”.
“Rest assured that there is sufficient space for expansion of the commercial sector and the office sector in the longer run. But we need to deal with the immediate term as well and this is what I want to emphasise,” he added. Mr Mah’s assurance on sufficient land supply was made on the sidelines of the groundbreaking ceremony for a new bridge linking the Bayfront to Marina Centre.
The 280-metre pedestrian bridge, shaped like the double-helix of human DNA, will be an “iconic landmark” that will link the attractions around the Marina Bay area, said Mr Mah.
“We already have the flyer; we’ve the IR (integrated resort), BFC (Business and Financial Centre), the Sail and Collyer Quay. So the bridge is, in a way, starting to tie up all these developments together and when it is completed, it will physically tie everybody together.”
The developments around the bay have already attracted some $10 billion worth of investment in public-private sector collaborations.
Source : Weekend Today - 31 Mar 20
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