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CLARISSA TAN looks at some mega projects JTC is undertaking to equip S’pore for the 21st century

DEEP into the earth, more than 100 metres below sea level, will lie the Rock Cavern. This series of gigantic subterranean tunnels will store millions of cubic metres of petroleum.

Bobbing on the waves, meanwhile, you may see a Very Large Floating Structure, a series of seaborne platforms, also for stocking oil. And if you gaze upward, you could catch a glimpse of the latest and fastest aeroplanes taking off from Aero+sPace.

These are the future industrial spaces of Singapore. They are now being constructed or planned by the Jurong Town Corporation, which for four decades has been the main architect and developer of the nation’s industrial landscape. For the 21st century, the Corporation appears to accept no boundaries - not even that of space.

‘JTC must keep on pushing the limits of possibilities, to try out new ideas, and seek opportunities beyond known frontiers,’ said Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong at JTC’s 40th anniversary in June.

‘Land will always be scarce in Singapore, but with human creativity and ingenuity, we can find new ways to do more with the limited amount we have. One way is to go underground,’ he added.

The Jurong Rock Cavern is located beneath Banyan Basin on Jurong Island, itself an engineering feat created by land reclamation that joined seven smaller islands. Construction work is in progress, with Japanese firm Sato Kogyo building access shafts and start-up galleries.

Phase 1 of the project, to be completed by 2014, will yield a capacity of 1.47 million cubic metres of storage space for liquid hydrocarbons such as crude oil, condensate, naphtha and gasoil. Phase 2, with a potential to add another 1.32 million cubic metres, is being planned. Both phases have received strong interest from industry players, particularly specialist chemical manufacturers already on Jurong Island.

Meanwhile, JTC has concluded a feasibility study, carried out with the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore and the National University of Singapore, which has found that a storage facility on Singapore waters - currently dubbed the Very Large Floating Structure or VLFS - is indeed viable.

The VLFS will be designed as floating platforms that are either moored to land or operated as standalone units. Its core structure will likely be made of concrete, chosen for its fire-resistant qualities. It will take space-saving to unprecedented levels - the storage capacity of 300,000 cubic metres will occupy no more than five hectares of space on land, compared with 20 hectares for a comparable conventional facility.

‘JTC will proceed further with detailed studies and if everything goes according to plan, Singapore will be the first nation in the world to have a floating oil storage structure made of concrete,’ said JTC’s chief executive Ow Foong Pheng in the 2007 annual report.

Both the Jurong Rock Cavern and the VLFS will help address the overwhelming need for more oil storage, with the global demand for energy expected to jump by 50 per cent in the next two decades.

Infrastructure works for another huge industrial space - Seletar Aero+sPace - have started, with the first phase of development allocated. The 140-hectare project will transform the area surrounding Seletar Airport into a specialist park that will host maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) players, as well as the design and manufacture of aircraft systems and components.

British aerospace heavyweight Rolls Royce has sealed a contract to invest $320 million in a facility at Seletar Aero+sPace. This so-called ‘factory of the future’ will assemble and test large-scale civil engines for Boeing and Airbus. Other big names that have signed up at the park include Pratt & Whitney and homegrown ST Aerospace.

One reason why JTC can afford the huge investment of time and effort in these mega projects is its divestment strategy. In October 2006, it said it would divest its high-rise, ready-built industrial property portfolio through a combination of a real estate investment trust (Reit) and trade sales.

The corporation’s plan is to gradually exit from segments of the industrial property market where the private sector already plays an active role.

‘This will help to pave the way for a more vibrant industrial landscape with greater involvement by the private sector,’ JTC chairman Cedric Foo has said. ‘Moving ahead, JTC will focus on playing a key role in strategic projects with longer payback periods.’

One such ongoing project is one-north, called thus because it is located one degree north of the equator. This 200-hectare project around the Buona Vista area is dedicated to what JTC calls the ‘knowledge economy’ - knowledge-intensive sectors such as biomedical sciences, infocomm, media, science and engineering.

Biopolis, the first major complex within one-north, is now an established biomedical centre hosting players from the public and private sectors. The massive project is now in Phase 3, which includes the construction of a 41,500 sq metre space for research and development in clinical and translational medicine.

Heritage buildings

Now all eyes are on Fusionopolis, another cluster designed as a place where ’science, business and the arts converge’. Phase 1 of the project - the iconic two-tower structure designed by the late architect Kisho Kurokawa - has been completed and is fully taken up. It is dedicated to the media and infocomm industries. Phases 2A and 2B - which will house business and laboratory space - will be completed by 2010.

The development of Phase 2B was awarded to Soilbuild Group Holdings, illustrating JTC’s commitment to public-private partnerships.

Crowning the one-north area will be the Civic, Cultural and Retail Complex (CCRC), a lifestyle-cum-entertainment complex situated in another cluster called Vista Xchange. Among other things, the CCRC will have a 5,000-seat auditorium for concerts and other huge functions.

Amid all these futuristic developments, JTC is preserving some nuggets of the past. The picturesque colonial black-and-white houses at Seletar Estate, for example, will be re-used as training facilities for the aviation campus of Seletar Aero+sPace. There are similar heritage spots within one-north, such as Rochester Park and Wessex Estate.

The history of JTC is inseparable from the history of Singapore. From the very first zinc-walled factories that the Corporation built as a temporary measure in a newly independent nation to the teeming industrial hubs that are now Jurong Island, Tuas, Changi and Jurong Port, it has made the country a case study of how scarcity of natural resources can be overcome by ingenuity, hard work and with an eye on the bigger picture.

Throughout its 40 years, JTC has been consistent in one thing - its ability to deal with change and with the unexpected

‘Our best-laid plans will have to be modified and updated as new challenges emerge,’ PM Lee said at the dinner. ‘Hence JTC must remain dynamic and nimble, keeping an eye on business trends, and responding promptly to new threats and opportunities”

If the past is anything to go by, then JTC is well equipped for the future.

This is the last of a four-part series brought to you by JTC Corp

Source : Business Times - 26 Aug 2008