New homes, parks on cards after air base moves

Sumita d/o Sreedharan Today Online 22 Aug 13;

SINGAPORE — New residential areas, parks, schools, community facilities and job clusters for residents in the north-eastern and eastern parts of the island. These are some of the “exciting possibilities” thrown up by the relocation of Paya Lebar Air Base, the Ministry of National Development (MND) said yesterday in response to TODAY’s queries.

Apart from freeing up 800 hectares of land, the relocation could also see height restrictions removed for surrounding estates such as Toa Payoh, Hougang, Sengkang, Punggol, Bedok and Tampines — giving rise to more development possibilities, be it in the form of taller residential buildings or towering office skyscrapers.

Currently, the tallest flats in these areas are the 40-storey Toa Payoh Crest and 42-storey The Peak @ Toa Payoh.

On Sunday, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong announced that over the next two decades, the air base will be moved from Paya Lebar to Changi.

Adding that the relocation is a “large-scale endeavour and will take time to realise”, the MND nevertheless said that the “large size of the site and its fairly central location give rise to many exciting possibilities for new developments to enhance the living environment in the eastern part of Singapore”. It added that new transport corridors across the land currently occupied by the airbase could potentially be created, enhancing connectivity for residents in the area to commute to the city and the western part of the island.

The specific development plans will be shaped over time to “support development options for future generations of Singaporeans”, MND added.

Analysts have estimated that the area which the Paya Lebar Airbase sits on could potentially house at least 60,000 new homes.

The airbase is currently flanked by the industrial areas of Ubi Avenue, Defu Lane and Kaki Bukit to the West and residential estates such as Tampines and Pasir Ris to the East. It is also on the fringes of fast-growing Punggol and Sengkang new towns.

The planned Cross Island Line (CRL) could pass through estates near the area such as Hougang and Pasir Ris.

Analysts cited older flats in the Chai Chee/Bedok area, two-storey shophouses in the Kovan area and industrial buildings in the Paya Lebar area as some potential places for redevelopment.

Mr Colin Tan, Head of Research and Consultancy at Suntec Real Estate Consultants, said: “There are also shophouses in the Serangoon/Hougang area that are getting older and they may catch the eye of private developers now that higher properties can be built.”

Mr Tan said that there is “great potential” for the area to be “an alternate employment hub” to the Central Business District if it is combined with the neighbouring Tampines area. “There is the potential of a mega hub that is greater than Woodlands and the Jurong Lake district,” he added.

Chris International Director Chris Koh said that the industrial properties around the airbase in Paya Lebar have leases of between 30 to 60 years.

“These properties can be taken back by the authorities when the lease is up and without the current height restrictions, they can be very attractive locations based on the infrastructure that has been building up in the area,” said Mr Koh. “The road structures were built with the expected high population in mind, so it will not be difficult to develop the area around it.”

ERA Key Executive Officer Eugene Lim allayed concerns that all low-rise blocks, especially those that are built below their potential plot ratio due to existing height restrictions, may be put on enbloc sale. “Based on urban planning principles, there will always be variations in height... so I think the worry is unfounded,” he said.

More details on the redevelopment of the areas affected by the relocation of Paya Lebar Airbase could be shared by the Government when the Land Use Master Plan is unveiled later this year.

Air base move will revive ‘sleepy town’
Emily Liu and Sumita Sreedharan Today Online 22 Aug 13;

SINGAPORE — Whenever he needs a change of scenery from the four walls of his office at Kaki Bukit Avenue 3, exhibition designer Rodney Lim needs only to look out of his window — where an uninterrupted view of Singapore’s south-eastern cityscape awaits him.

This is because his office is on the top floor of a 10-storey industrial building, one of the tallest in the vicinity.

“You can see all the way to Marina Bay Sands,” he explained, gesturing towards the familiar silhouette in the distance. The view was the reason he picked the spot as his office — which overlooks the entire eastern side of Singapore — seven years ago, Mr Lim, 47, added.

High-rise buildings remain elusive in large swathes of the east due to height restrictions — which are imposed for safety reasons — on areas around Paya Lebar Air Base.

During the National Day Rally on Sunday, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong announced plans to relocate the air base to Changi, thus freeing up these areas from the height restrictions for future redevelopment.

Some residents TODAY interviewed, such as those living in Jalan Tenaga near Kaki Bukit Avenue 1, were looking forward to the changes, even though they are many years away.

“The redevelopment of this place will hopefully inject some life into the entire area and have a positive effect on our property prices,” said businessman Hashim Sulaiman, 40.

Others hoped for more amenities and recreational facilities.

“Right now, we live in a rather sleepy town. So, somewhere we can take our children to on the weekends, for sports or to shop, would be great,” said insurance agent Susan Chua, 38.

Many are unlikely to miss the sound of planes flying overhead on busy afternoons — although some residents and workers in residential neighbourhoods, such as Eunos, Tampines and Hougang, said they had learnt to tune out the engine noise.

“I’ve been here for more than 10 years, I think I have got used to it already,” said Mr Darren Lee, 30, sales manager of Monster Garage Trading at Bartley East Road, which is located south of the air base.

While the industrial area surrounding Mr Lee’s auto-repair company is not easily accessible by public transport — most of his customers either drive or come by taxi — the location still attracts a lot of traffic.

Traffic congestion could be particularly bad during rush hour in the mornings and evenings on roads leading from the Kallang-Paya Lebar Expressway to the Kaki Bukit Industrial Park.

“Eunos and Kaki Bukit area is famous for the traffic jam,” said Mr Nor Azman, a 50-year-old building management executive.

The widening of Eunos Link — which borders between Kaki Bukit and Ubi — from three to four lanes about two years ago has offered some relief, but not solved the entire problem, he said.

Mr Lim, who also drives to work, avoids the traffic by coming in early in the mornings and leaving late in the evenings. “More development in the area will only add to the traffic,” he said.

In any case, those interviewed said they appreciated the practical benefits of moving the air base out of the area.

“It’s a good thing, because Singapore’s land is scarce, we need to build vertically,” said Mr Nor Azman.

Transport corridors, lifting of height limits after airbase moves
Melissa Tan Straits Times 22 Aug 13;

NEW transport corridors and the relaxing of height restrictions for at least six housing estates in the north-east and east are in store after the air force moves out of Paya Lebar, the Ministry of National Development (MND) said yesterday.

The relocation of the Paya Lebar Airbase, expected to happen after 2030, will free up 800ha of land for redevelopment.

"The large size of the site and its fairly central location give rise to many exciting possibilities for new developments to enhance the living environment in the eastern part of Singapore," MND said in an e-mailed statement in response to media queries.

There was "potential to introduce new transport corridors across the land", it added, and height restrictions could be lifted in several towns currently affected by flight paths.

These towns include Toa Payoh, Hougang, Sengkang, Punggol, Bedok and Tampines.

MND also told The Straits Times that existing height restrictions for buildings affected by flight paths range from between one and two storeys for industrial buildings in Kaki Bukit Industrial Estate, to between 16 and 17 storeys for housing developments in Punggol.

Transport experts said yesterday that an MRT line, as well as major roads and expressways, could be built through the 800ha of land freed up by the relocation.

National University of Singapore transport researcher Lee Der Horng said that a Cross Island MRT Line proposed by the Government in January would previously have had to go around the airbase rather than through or under it due to security reasons.

"But now that the airbase will be relocated, there's no need to compromise (on the line's route). It could also be built cheaper and faster," Professor Lee said.

Slated to be ready by 2030, the planned 50km Cross Island Line will run from Jurong to Tampines.

Nanyang Technological University adjunct associate professor Gopinath Menon, a retired Land Transport Authority planner, noted that parts of the Kallang-Paya Lebar Expressway (KPE) had to be built underground because of the airbase.

"The KPE could be moved to the surface level," he said, adding that any new township built on the vacated land would require surface-level access roads. That township could also get its own MRT station.

Knight Frank research head Alice Tan said future developments in the area would complement the growth of the proposed North Coast Innovation Corridor, a commercial belt stretching from Woodlands and Sembawang to the future Seletar Regional Centre and Punggol.

However, CBRE Research associate director Desmond Sim said that the impact of the relocation on property prices in surrounding areas "would depend on how state planners react". He expects the Urban Redevelopment Authority to release Singapore's Master Plan 2013 - a statutory plan on land use - by early next year.

Paya Lebar Airbase is surrounded by low-density developments such as industrial estates, but consultants said that the land use for those areas could eventually be intensified or changed.

As for the towns such as Bedok and Tampines that could have height restrictions relaxed, Mr Sim said the future en bloc potential could result in property prices appreciating 10 per cent to 20 per cent.

However, he cautioned against any "knee-jerk" price rise, saying the airbase relocation was many years down the road.

MND said yesterday that the relocation was "a large-scale endeavour and will take time to realise". It added: "The specific new development plans for Paya Lebar Airbase and the surrounding area will be shaped over time."