Positioning the West as a desirable place to work-live-play
By Nicholas Lam
/ EdgeProp Singapore |
URA plans to develop the Jurong Lake District (JLD) into Singapore’s second business district (Credit: Samuel Isaac Chua)
The West Region of Singapore is known as a major hub for the nation’s industrial, manufacturing and logistics capabilities. Current infrastructure in the region includes energy and chemical refineries on Jurong Island, biomedical research and development labs at one-north, and shipping and logistics capability at Tuas Port.
As part of its Master Plan 2019, URA intends to expand the area’s infrastructure over the next two decades to create “an ecosystem of innovation, collaboration and synergy”.
It has embarked on several new projects that allow companies to streamline and centralise the manufacturing process — from research, development and testing, to production and shipment of products — all in one region of Singapore.
Major ongoing infrastructure projects in the west region. (Credit: URA)
Recharging Jurong Lake District
URA plans to develop the Jurong Lake District (JLD) into Singapore’s second-largest mixed-use business district outside the city centre. At 410ha, the JLD is larger in land size compared to Marina Bay’s 360ha.
Upon completion, the JLD is targeted to introduce 100,000 new jobs and 20,000 new homes to the region by 2050. To jumpstart the transformation, URA launched a 6.5ha white site for tender under the Government Land Sales (GLS) Programme — the largest single land tender ever called to date. It was also the first master developer site launched to date, and the tender submissions will be evaluated based on concept and price.
A consortium made up of five of the largest developers in the Asia Pacific region — CapitaLand Development, City Developments Ltd (CDL), Frasers Property, Mitsubishi Estate and Mitsui Fudosan — submitted two bids for the site. CapitaLand, CDL and Frasers Property have each taken a 25% stake in the joint venture, with Mitsubishi Estate and Mitsui Fudosan holding 12.5% each.
The master developer site is spread across three plots. URA estimates that the future mixed-use development site could yield a maximum gross floor area (GFA) of 3.93 million sq ft. It includes 1.57 million sq ft of office space, 1,700 residential units and an additional 785,765 sq ft of GFA that can be allocated for retail, hospitality and communal spaces.
Artist's impression of the Jurong Lake District. (Credit: URA)
Enhancing connectivity
J-Walk, the network of sheltered walkways connecting developments surrounding the Jurong East MRT Station, will also be extended. It connects the MRT station and bus interchange to retail outlets at Jem, Westgate, IMM and Ng Teng Fong General Hospital. Plans are in the pipeline for the network to extend to nearby office buildings, such as Vision Exchange and JTC Summit.
The upcoming 368-unit J’den mixed-use development along Jurong East Central 1 will also be connected via J-Walk. These align with URA’s goal of making at least 85% of trips within the JLD via walk-cycle-ride modes of transport by 2035.
Jurong East MRT Station is an interchange for the East-West and North-South Lines. In the future, it will be an interchange for the Jurong Region Line as part of the Jurong East Integrated Transport Hub, which includes a new bus interchange. Commuting time to the Central Region and the CBD will be cut to under 30 minutes.
J-Walk, a network of sheltered walkways surrounding the Jurong East MRT Station, will be expanded as more buildings complete. (Credit: URA)
Expanding commercial district
URA will also expand the current commercial core of the district into a new 120ha precinct south of Jurong East MRT Station, an area surrounding the old Jurong Country Club.
To be developed over the next 30 years, the new precinct will be designed to be car-lite and consist of a mix of residential spaces, amenities, retail and schools with offices and business parks.
The mix will also allow companies to locate their various business functions in one area and scale up if needed. To facilitate this, URA says it will adopt more flexibility in zoning, land tenure and phasing in the area than in other districts.
Several government branches, including the Ministry of Sustainability and the Environment, Ministry of National Development, Ministry of Transport and the Land Transport Authority (LTA), have announced their intentions to relocate to the JLD.
All new developments in the district will be required to achieve the Green Mark Platinum certification and replace 100% of the landscape they displace. The district will also deploy solar panels where possible and utilise the district cooling system to decrease its carbon footprint.
The district cooling system uses centralised condensers to pipe chilled water as coolant for air-conditioning systems. The system’s centralised nature makes it more efficient.
Jurong Lake Gardens
The JLD will also see the completion of several new leisure and recreational offerings, such as the newly rejuvenated 90ha Jurong Lake Gardens.
Two of the three gardens that make up Jurong Lake Gardens — the Japanese Garden and the Chinese Garden — are scheduled to reopen in September, marking the completion of the renovation that began in 2012.
The 60ha Lakeside Gardens reopened in April 2023 with a new 183,000 sq ft skate park — the largest in Singapore. It is the island’s first skate park to incorporate a bouldering wall and a parkour park.
Singapore Science Park
The Singapore Science Centre’s new 592,020 sq ft campus by the lake’s north-western shore is slated to be completed in 2027. Designed by Zaha Hadid Architects in collaboration with Architects 61, the new building will be about 25% larger than the current Science Centre and sit on a 7.4ha site next to the Chinese Garden MRT Station.
Singapore Tourism Board (STB) also plans to develop a 6.8ha area surrounding the Singapore Science Centre into new recreation spaces linking the new Science Centre to Jurong Town Hall.
STB launched a request for proposals (RFP) in March 2022 to develop the site into a tourism and lifestyle hub with an estimated 350 hotel rooms. However, when the RFP closed in October 2022, it received no bids.
The Singapore Science Centre’s new 592,020 sq ft campus is slated to complete in 2027 (Credit: Science Centre Singapore)
Living next to Jurong Lake Gardens
Few residences in Singapore’s suburbs can boast lakefront living or park views at one’s doorsteps like those fronting Jurong Lake Gardens. It explains Wing Tai Holdings’ en bloc purchase of the former Lakeside Apartments on Yuan Ching Road for $273.88 million, or $1,250 psf per plot ratio (psf ppr), in May 2022.
This was followed by the en bloc purchase of the former Park View Mansions next door by a consortium made up of SingHaiyi Group, KSH Holdings and Ho Lee Group in July 2022 for $260 million ($1,023 psf ppr).
Wing Tai Holdings launched The LakeGarden Residences, a 306-unit, 99-year leasehold condo, in August 2023. To date, 174 units (57%) have been taken up at an average price of $2,136 psf.
Meanwhile, the SingHaiyi-led joint venture launched the 440-unit, 99-year leasehold Sora in early July. To date, 100 units (22.7%) have been sold at an average price of $2,158 psf.
URA has also zoned the former Tang Dynasty City theme park grounds for residential development. The 4.8ha site on Yuan Ching Road, with a plot ratio of 4.6, could yield between 1,800 and 2,600 new homes.
Jurong Innovation District
Located between Nanyang Technological University (NTU) and the new Tengah estate, the 600ha Jurong Innovation District (JID) is designed to support advanced manufacturing operations and businesses.
Developed by JTC, the district consists of five precincts — NTU, CleanTech Park, Bahar, Bulim and Tengah. Each precinct houses a concentration of institutions specialising in an area supporting manufacturing operations.
For example, the CleanTech Park precinct, closest to NTU, mainly houses training and research facilities. Tenants in this precinct include A*Star Advanced Remanufacturing and Technology Centre, A*Star Advanced Manufacturing Training Academy, and Bosch Rexroth Regional Training Centre.
On the other hand, the Bulim precinct houses most manufacturing facilities, such as the Hyundai Motor Group Innovation Centre, Angel Playing Cards and Shimano — a Japanese bicycle components manufacturer.
The district will also be a testbed for new technology, such as 5G and self-driving vehicles. The JID will trial the use of Automatic Guided Vehicles via an underground network of roads to deliver goods and cargo to businesses within the district.
An 11km-long “sky corridor” runs through the district, serving as a main transport thoroughfare for pedestrians, cyclists, and possibly autonomous vehicles in the future. According to JTC, pockets of green space will be spaced out along the route.
Hyundai Motor Group opened its 935,000 sq ft manufacturing centre in the Jurong Innovation District last year. (Photo: Samuel Isaac Chua / EdgeProp Singapore)
Tuas Port
The ninth berth at Tuas Port began operations on July 1, responding to an influx of incoming container vessels caused by piracy in the Red Sea. Two additional berths are expected to begin operations by the end of the year, part of the port’s phased opening.
When it is fully operational sometime in the 2040s, Tuas Port will consist of 66 berths spanning 26km of waterfront, capable of handling the largest container vessels currently in operation.
The port spans 1,337ha and can handle up to 65 million TEUs (twenty-foot equivalent units) of cargo annually. It will be the world’s largest, fully automated port, utilising artificial intelligence to optimise operations like ship traffic management and port clearance.
To that end, the construction of Tuas Port has been progressing steadily. JTC is set to begin reclaiming 172ha of land at the Northern Tuas Basin next year to make way for more road connections.
The reclamation works, scheduled to be completed in 2029, are expected to nearly double the size of the existing 93ha Bidadari Estate and create more land for industrial use in Tuas.
Once fully operational, Tuas port will consist of 66 berths spanning 26km of waterfront.
Tengah Estate
Development of the new housing estate in Tengah is underway. The estate is bounded by Choa Chu Kang to the north-east, Jurong West to the south, Bukit Batok to the east, and the JID to the west.
Formerly zoned as a restricted area for military use, the 700ha expanse of forest has been redeveloped into a residential estate. It can house close to 30,000 HDB units and 12,000 private homes.
Since 2018, over 23,500 Build-To-Order (BTO) units have been launched in Tengah across 22 estates. The most recent BTO launch at Tengah was Brickland Weave in February 2023.
According to HDB, selling prices (excluding grants) at Brickland Weave start from $97,000 for a two-room flexi, $190,000 for a three-room, $291,000 for a four-room, and $401,000 for a five-room flat.
As a completely new estate, Tengah has not seen a resale transaction yet. Tengah is also the first public housing estate to implement the central cooling system, a concept similar to the district cooling system.
Over 23,500 Build-to-Order (BTO) units have been launched in Tengah since 2018. (Photo: Samuel Isaac Chua / EdgeProp Singapore)
New MRT lines
Two new MRT lines will be built in addition to the North-South and East-West Lines currently in operation to support the increased demand from residential and commercial users.
The new Jurong Region Line will have 24 stations and is scheduled to be completed in three stages between 2027 and 2029. Once completed, it will connect the NTU campus, the Jurong Industrial District and Tengah Town to existing stations at Boon Lay, Jurong East and Choa Chu Kang.
According to the LTA, the line will put an additional 60,000 households within a 10-minute walk of an MRT station.
The Cross Island Line will also extend to the West when the second phase of construction is completed in 2032. Comprising 12 stations extending from Aviation Park Road in Changi to the JLD, it will offer direct travel from the JLD to neighbourhoods in the north and north-east, such as Ang Mo Kio, Hougang and Punggol.
The former Jurong Country Club in Jurong East was the planned location for the Singapore-Malaysia High-Speed Rail (HSR), first announced in 2013. The HSR could reduce travel time from Singapore to Kuala Lumpur to just 90 minutes. However, in 2021, the two governments terminated the project.
Talk of a new HSR project was rekindled last year when Malaysia’s government launched a request for proposals in July. Anthony Loke, Malaysia’s Transport Minister, said that the Malaysian Parliament will decide by the end of this year whether to proceed with the new HSR project.
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