The Present and Future of Jurong Property
Today, the Jurong Lake District (JLD) is Singapore’s second Central Business District (CBD) and it will cater to the diverse needs of businesses and create job opportunities closer to where people live. The transformation has been planned for in the URA Master Plan 2008 when then National Development Minister, Mah Bow Tan announced that The Jurong Lake District – made up of two precincts, Jurong Gateway and Lakeside – will offer a potential development area of 360 hectares or about the size of Marina Bay.
The Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) said the Jurong Lake District is expected to attract investments worth billions of dollars. Under the proposed plan, some 750,000 square metres of land will be set aside at Jurong Gateway for offices, hotels, food and beverage, and entertainment uses. It is also expected to add about 2,800 hotel rooms, equivalent to the hotel belt at the Singapore River area. Land to build 1,000 new private homes will be available as well. The URA said the Jurong Gateway is set to be the biggest commercial hub outside the city centre – nearly 2.5 times the size of the Tampines Regional Centre.
The potential for Jurong is exciting and many of the areas envisaged are progressively taking place:
1) High Speed Rail Terminus (HSR) – <terminated as of 2021>
2) Jurong Gateway
3) Access to research hubs and tertiary educational institutions
4) Cluster of shopping malls and office space
5) New Tourism Hub
6) The Jurong Innovation District
7) Tuas Port
1) High Speed Rail Terminus (HSR) - [this project is terminated as of 2021]
The proposed 350km-long HSR line aims to reduce travel time between Singapore and Kuala Lumpur to around 90 minutes, from the current 11 hours on existing train services. The Jurong East terminus will be easily accessible by four MRT lines: the existing East-West and North-South Lines at Jurong East MRT station and upcoming Jurong Region Line and Cross Island Line. It will also be served by the Jurong East Integrated Transport Hub.
The HSR is significant, because about 300,000 Malaysians work in Singapore. They would want to rent or buy a place somewhere in the area of the HSR terminus once it’s up, as it will make trips back home easier. The HSR could also see rising rental demand in commercial and entertainment spaces, just from the increased foot traffic. As of now, the project is postponed as requested by the Malaysian Government.
2) Jurong Gateway
Jurong Gateway is designated as the commercial hub of the Jurong Lake District (JLD) and the West Region. Centered around the Jurong East MRT Station, Jurong Gateway offers an excellent mix of office, retail, and other complementary uses.
Statutory boards such as the Agri-Food & Veterinary Authority of Singapore (AVA) and the Building and Construction Authority (BCA) are already relocated to the office tower of JEM with further plans for the Ministry of National Development and Ministry of the Environment and Water Resources to move to Jurong East.
There are also plans in progress to house The Ministry of Transport (MOT) and the Land Transport Authority (LTA) under one roof in a new integrated complex at the Jurong East MRT station, which is slated for completion after 2020.
3) Access to research hubs, tertiary educational institutions and medical facilities
Jurong Gateway is close in proximity to 2 world-class universities with leading global research capabilities – National University of Singapore and the Nanyang Technological University. Additionally, it is also near to 2 polytechnics – Singapore Polytechnic and Ngee Ann Polytechnic. Student accommodation on campus is limited and foreign students are given priority hence there is demand from parents who wish to relocate to the West for the benefit of their children. There is also good rental demand from foreign students who are unable to secure a dormitory space. Located in between Chinese Garden MRT and Lakeside MRT, the Canadian International School offers all 3 IB programmes for students aged 2 to 18 and it is one of the best IB schools in Singapore. Just 3 MRT stops away is One-North, a business park for R&D and high technology cluster, comprising biomedical sciences, infocomm technology and media industries.
Ng Teng Fong General Hospital is situated in Jurong Gateway and it has a capacity of 700-bed, the hospital is part of an integrated development together with the adjoining Jurong Community Hospital with a capacity of 400-bed. The National University Hospital is located beside NUS and serves as a tertiary hospital, clinical training centre and research centre for the medical and dental faculties of the National University of Singapore (NUS). It is a 1,160-bed tertiary hospital serving more than 670,000 outpatients and 49,000 inpatients.
4) Cluster of Shopping Malls, Office Space and Hotel
For entertainment and leisure, you can find popular shopping malls in Jurong East with JEM, Westgate, IMM and JCube. Shop to your heart’s desire at IKEA, Don Don Donki, NTUC Extra, Uniqlo, H&M or outlet shopping at IMM, ice skating at JCUBE and catch a movie at JEM or JCube. Genting Hotel Jurong is the first hotel in the Jurong Lake District and has over 500 rooms and provides an affordable and convenient alternative for tourists.
The International Business Park (IBP) has been established since 1992 and is Singapore’s pioneer business park. It is now an attractive site for corporations to set up their regional headquarters, innovation centres and other operations. JEM, Westgate and Vision Exchange offer premium office space and close proximity to a convenient transport network for employees and clients.
5) New Tourism Hub
The Singapore Tourism Board (STB) has earmarked a 7ha vacant plot of land in the Jurong Lake District for an integrated tourism development from 2026. This will bring large-scale tourism and leisure attractions to the Singapore heartlands.
The new Science Centre will be located next to the Chinese Garden MRT station and it will house more exhibitions and laboratories for visitors to conduct experiments and create new inventions. It will be designed to provide more opportunities for hands-on activities by integrating exhibition galleries, labs and workshop spaces into one big space.
6) Jurong Innovation District
The Jurong Innovation District (JID) is envisioned by the Singapore Government as the the industrial park of the future in its bid to push to increase innovation. JTC, the national developer of industrial infrastructure, is currently constructing Launchpad@JID, to serve as a space for entrepreneurs, researchers and students to design, prototype, and test-bed their new innovations.
The district will bring together researchers, students, innovators and businesses to develop products and services of the future. It will also create an environment to house different activities within a single next-generation industrial district.
It will be the future of innovation for enterprise, learning and living as the Deputy Prime Minister puts it. The Jurong Innovation District is also strategically located beside the Nanyang Technological University (NTU) so that entrepreneurs, researchers and students can collaborate to design, prototype and test-bed their new innovations.
7) Tuas Mega Port
Singapore currently has five container terminals – Tanjong Pagar, Keppel, Brani, Pasir Panjang Terminal 1 and Pasir Panjang Terminal 2 spread over the southern waterfront. With the Tuas Mega Port, it is an opportunity to consolidate all the port operations and at the same time upgrade to the latest state of the art technology and expand the berths to accommodate future mega vessels. The Tuas Terminal is expected to be the largest container terminal in the world, with a facility that will be able to cater to mega-vessels. In addition, the mega-terminal will also have a total capacity of up to 65 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs), more than the combined 50 million TEUs capacity of the current city terminals. Currently, our maritime sector contributes around 7 percent to Singapore’s overall GDP growth and employs over 170,000 workers.
