JTC seeks cutting-edge ideas on land use

Straits Times 31 Mar 11;

JTC Corporation is seeking cutting-edge ideas on how to intensify land use and speed up project construction - and has set aside a $5 million innovation fund to develop the best suggestions.

All Singapore-based companies, including tertiary institutions, research institutes, public sector agencies and private organisations, can send in proposals.

Individuals who want to submit a proposal must partner an organisation.

Foreign entities will also have to partner a local organisation or have a local presence. And Singapore must be used as its base to own and manage all intellectual property rights developed.

JTC wants new layouts and configurations that will help improve land efficiency as well as ideas on how to increase the parking capacity of aircraft and the plot ratio of runway access hangers.

Companies can also suggest ways to reduce the construction time of roads by at least 30 per cent and speed up the building of industrial infrastructure to within 12 months or less.

JTC said conventional methods of road construction typically take about 12 months per kilometre while building a substation usually takes up to 15 months.

JTC chief executive Manohar Khiatani said: 'Innovation is of high priority to JTC and is key to sustaining Singapore's competitive edge as an investment location.

'We are constantly on the lookout for creative infrastructure solutions to develop and meet the evolving needs of business operations.'

The trial period for each project is capped at two years.

The amount of funds awarded to each project will depend on the quality of the proposal and its implementation potential.

The closing date for submissions is June 7 and applicants will be notified of the results of their proposals by the end of the year.

This is the second time JTC has called for such submissions and there are plans to make it an annual exercise.

Last March, the agency launched its inaugural JTC Innovation Fund, calling for ideas that would intensify land use and create new industrial space.

It awarded a total of $900,000 to three research projects aimed at making JTC's industrial parks more environmentally sustainable.

Two projects were submitted by the Nanyang Technological University and one by the National University of Singapore.

CHERYL LIM

JTC puts up $5m for cutting-edge ideas

It seeks proposals on intensifying land use, speeding up construction
Uma Shankari Business Times 31 Mar 11;

JTC Corporation (JTC) has launched a request for proposal (RFP) exercise to seek cutting-edge ideas on intensifying land use and speeding up construction.

The government agency yesterday said it has set aside a $5 million innovation fund to support and develop any ideas from the RFP that will create new industrial infrastructure solutions.

The two key themes for this RFP are increasing the plot ratios of buildings in the marine and aerospace industries, and increasing the construction speed of industrial infrastructure.

'Innovation is of high priority to JTC and is key to sustaining Singapore's competitive edge as an investment location,' said JTC chief executive Manohar Khiatani.

'We are constantly on the look out for creative infrastructure solutions to develop and meet the evolving needs of business operations,' he added.

Intensification of land use is a challenge faced by both the marine and aerospace industries as they need large tracts of open land for their bulky and heavy equipment.

For the marine industry, the RFP seeks proposals for new layouts and configurations to better integrate core and supporting marine-related facilities and processes.

And in the case of the aerospace industry, the RFP seeks proposals to increase the parking capacity of aircraft and plot ratios of runway access hangars.

Innovative solutions are also invited for accelerating the construction speed of roads and reducing the construction time of substations.

This is the second year that JTC is reaching out to external partners to boost industry research in creating innovative industrial infrastructure solutions.

The agency launched the inaugural JTC Innovation Fund in March 2010, targeting institutions of higher learning, and private and public sector organisations in Singapore.

Last year, a total grant of $900,000 was awarded to fund three research projects which were aimed at improving the environmental sustainability of its industrial parks.

The closing date for submission is June 7, 2011. JTC will conduct this exercise annually, it said.

JTC invites firms to submit proposals
Julie Quek Channel NewsAsia 30 Mar 11;

SINGAPORE : JTC Corporation has invited local and foreign firms to submit proposals on industrial infrastructure development.

JTC said on Wednesday that it has launched a "Request For Proposal" (RFP), seeking cutting-edge ideas on intensifying land use and accelerating construction time.

A S$5m innovation fund has been set aside to support and develop ideas that will create new industrial infrastructure solutions to grow the Singapore economy, JTC said in a statement.

It added that the two key themes for the proposals were increasing plot ratio of buildings in the marine and aerospace industries, and increasing construction speed of industrial infrastructure.

The duration for each project proposal shall be for a maximum of two years and they should not have commenced before the funding is approved.

Foreign organisations would be required to partner a local organisation or have a local presence to be eligible to participate in the project.

The closing date for submission is June 7.

Mr Manohar Khiatani, CEO of JTC, said: "Innovation is of high priority to JTC and is key to sustaining Singapore's competitive edge as an investment location."

In March 2010, JTC launched the inaugural JTC Innovation Fund. Last year, a total grant of S$900,000 was awarded by JTC to fund three research projects which were aimed at improving the environmental sustainability of its industrial parks.

Out of the three projects, two were submitted by the Nanyang Technological University and one by the National University of Singapore.

- CNA/al