JTC Corp talks about how it has come this far

From factories... ...to Fusionopolis
JTC Corp talks about how it has come this far since its birth in 1968
Joyce Teo, Straits Times 30 Dec 08;

'Private developers won't be holding a lot of land and pumping money into, say, Seletar Air Base, at the start,' he said. 'They will want to see some seeding in place first.' JTC is turning Seletar into a business aviation hub.

MUCH was at stake when Jurong Town Corporation (JTC) workers started hacking away at the uninhabited jungles and marshlands of the Jurong area in 1968.

The fate of not only the future industrial hub of Jurong, but also Singapore itself, might have been in the balance.

'If JTC had failed, Singapore might have failed,' said Mr Ong Geok Soo, assistant chief executive of the body now known as JTC Corp, in a recent interview.

He has been at JTC through almost all of its 40 years, and remembers well the early challenges.

'We seeded the whole process. We developed Jurong town,' said Mr Ong. 'In the early days, JTC built roads, drains, sewers and worked with the Public Utilities Board to bring in power.'

Fortunately, the pioneers at JTC were a gung-ho bunch. There were some 'daredevils' who went all out to get the project done.

Back then, JTC was an all-round developer, building not only factories but even flats and gardens. It practically carved out Jurong town, and also built some of the flats in the area, which were later transferred to the Housing Board.

Although few entrepreneurs were initially willing to invest in Jurong, it eventually attracted huge foreign investment.

'In the early days, we had to build confidence and trust as we had to show investors we were credible. Customers were not yet at our door,' said Mr Ong.

Slowly, more and more customers came. Then began JTC's evolution, from its founding purpose to develop the Jurong Industrial Estate, to a much wider role in Singapore's development.

It began to build more no-frills low-rise factories elsewhere across the island in the 1970s.

Then it moved on to building multi-storey factories and high-tech business parks. 'Customers became more sophisticated. They wanted labs, showrooms, warehouse space.'

Gradually, the private sector was also able to provide and manage the same sort of space that JTC had been providing.

That meant JTC had to do more. It then reclaimed land that was eventually offered to business clusters in need of space. Chemical firms were housed on Jurong Island and pharmaceutical players at Tuas Biomedical Park, for instance.

Then, plans were laid out for the $15 billion one-north - a 200-ha self-contained research hub in Buona Vista promoting a 'work, live, learn and play' lifestyle. It is to be built over 15 to 20 years.

JTC has played a key role in Singapore's move into research and development and product design, helping the nation keep up with the times by offering innovative products to attract investors.

Since 2001, JTC has gone on to build Biopolis and then Fusionopolis at one-north. Media Park will follow.

These clusters of intelligent, cutting-edge 'factories' are striking examples of how far JTC has come since 1968. The high-rise buildings boast green features and combine work with leisure.

Apart from work spaces, the first phase of Fusionopolis, a $560 million two-tower-cum-podium development, has serviced apartments, shops and 13 public sky gardens, for instance. It even has a state-of-the art experimental theatre, which boasts a unique $380,000 timber beads-acoustic wall padding.

Construction of the 30-ha Fusionopolis, which will stretch over at least six phases, started in 2003 when the Sars outbreak was taking its toll on the economy. 'We were prepared to put our money into it but nobody trusted us,' said Mr Philip Su, JTC's assistant chief executive.

Market confidence was then at a low ebb so JTC wasn't sure if there would be takers for the space. Nevertheless, it forged ahead with the project, believing in its long-term potential. 'Now I've got a problem. I don't have enough space. Now, we have to launch phase 4,' said Mr Su.

Due to a lack of space, JTC is also going underground to create more usable space for Singapore. It is building an underground oil storage facility called Jurong Rock Cavern, which will feature over 2.7 million cubic metres of storage space when completed.

There are plans for an underground science city catering to research and development and an underground warehouse.

Among its other new ideas is one which looks at housing business clusters in a high-rise complex. For instance, a car mart can be combined with warehousing and logistics facilities.

These projects, which the private sector finds too big, complex and risky to handle, will be the focus of JTC in future.

It recently sold $1.71 billion worth of its ready-built facilities to Mapletree Investments as it shifts focus to such strategic projects that will help take Singapore into the future.

'In the early days, we had more flexibility as we had plenty of land,' said Mr Ong. 'Now, we are short of land so there's more planning, more thinking... We are less visible because Singapore is more developed now.'

Nevertheless, there is always a place for JTC in Singapore, said Mr Ong.

'Private developers won't be holding a lot of land and pumping money into, say, Seletar Air Base, at the start,' he said. 'They will want to see some seeding in place first.' JTC is turning Seletar into a business aviation hub.