Property Herald: Development Plans for North Region in PM's NDR

Introduction

In his National Day Rally speech on the 17th of August, Prime Minister Lawrence Wong touch on plans on develop the nothern part of Singapore or the North Region, particularly the Kranji and the area around the Sembawang Shipyard.

Background

Founded in 1842 by Scottish merchant William Henry Macleod Read, the Singapore Turf Club has hosted numerous races and events. In the 1990s, the Singapore Turf Club moved from its Bukit Timah premises to Kranji where a new racecourse and supporting buildings were constructed. In 1999, after five years of construction, the Kranji Racecourse, which covers about 1,300,000 sqm, was opened.

Due to falling number of visitors to the Kranji Turf Club, it was decided that the Turf Club will close after its final horse race in October 2024, thus ending a 182-year Singapore institution. The site would be returned to the government by March 2027, freeing up land to potentially build 14,000 new homes.

Figure 1: Future developments at Kranji

Source : Prime Minister's Office | STRAITS TIMES GRAPHICS

Sembawang Shipyard was originally established as Sembawang Naval Base by the British military in 1938. Transferred to Singapore in 1968, the shipyard was officially reopened in 1971 with a training centre and ship repair facilities, supporting Singapore's maritime industry ever since. While the exact number of units for future development is unspecified, this 86,000 sqm shipyard is slated to close and relocate in 2028 to make way for a mixed-use waterfront lifestyle district.

Figure 2: Future developments at Sembawang Shipyard

Source : Prime Minister's Office | STRAITS TIMES GRAPHICS

Perception that the North Region is "ulu"

Among the five planning regions in Singapore, the North Region is one of the more overlooked one for homebuyers. It is considered "ulu", which means rural or less accessible in Malay, partly due to the public perception and partly due to the longer time required to travel from the Northern Regional centre of Woodlands to the city centres, Jurong East is the Regional centre for the West Region, while Tampines is the Regional centre for the East Region of Singapore.

It require about 47 minute to travel from Woodlands to Raffles Place via the MRT, which is longer than the 29-minute and 38-minute train ride from Jurong East and Tampines to Raffles Place respectively.

Therefore, Woodlands and the North Region is preceived by many to be further away from the city area, and more "ulu".

Aging HDB flats

Some may feel that North Region is "ulu" because of the aging public housing flats in Woodlands and Sembawang. However, the age of the flats in the North Region is not the contributing factor to the perception that it is less accessible.

There are flats in the Central Region, such as Queenstown, Bukit Merah, Toa Payoh, that are even older than the flats in Woodlands, Yishun, Kranji and Sembawang. Despite their age, these flats in the Central Region are still popular with homebuyers due to their proximity to the city centre and their location within an established housing estate.

Essential ingredients for developments of North Region

The following are some of the key ingredients needed to develop the North Region.

1. A viable development plan and the means to execute it

2. Sufficient resources to carry out the development

3. A "champion" who can drive the development and see that the key objectives are met

4. Employment centres, such as business parks, that create and sustain jobs for new and existing households who live in the North Region

5. Greater public transportation connectivity and accessibility, including last mile travel

6. Sufficient amenities to meet the needs of the expected larger population such as new schools, retails amenities, recreational and healthcare facilities
   

A top-level government-driven development plan for the North Region is a good start to rejuvenate sections of the north. But it requires several parts to come together in order to materialise the development. one of the essential ingredients is public's buy-in.

Another important ingredient is that the government must cultivate and grow employment centres that create well-paying jobs in the north. If after the development of the North Region, which could take a decade more, most of the high-paying jobs are still found in the CBD which is in the southern part of Singapore, then those who with such high salaried jobs and can afford the more expensive homes in the Central Region would find no reason to build homes and live in the north. Then we are back to square one.

Two development models

There are at least two different development models that can be used for the North Region. The first is a government-led model, where the government would fund and drive the development, leaving a few parcels of land to be sold to private developers to build private housing. This was what happened with the development of Punggol.

The second model is a private-public model, where the government would seek a private developer to be the main developer or master developer of a significant part of the new town. This model was proposed for the development of the Jurong Lake District. However, it ran into some snags.

We are unsure which of these models will be used for the North Region as these are still early days,

It is possible to change public perception

Punggol was once considered "ulu" too. But the re-development of this fishing and farming village has turned it into a sought-after housing estate, partly thanks to a successful marketing campaign in the late 1990s when people were excited about the coming 21st century. The martketing campaign labelled the upcoming Punggol housing estate as "Punggol 21"

Other "ulu" parts of Singapore

Another "ulu" part of Singapore that would benefit from similar rejuvenation plans are the Change, Loyang areas. But that can be the story for another National Day Rally Speech by the Prime Minister.