IN THE letter, 'Let market decide land prices' (my paper, Nov 4), Mr Ee Teck Siew referred to the recent announcement by the Ministry of National Development on Oct 31 to transfer most of the remaining Confirmed List sites for this year to the Reserve List, and to suspend the Confirmed List for the first half of next year's Government Land Sales Programme.

The Government's decision to transfer most of the sites to the Reserve List is not aimed at cutting off land supply to prop up prices or rentals.

Rather, given the uncertain economic outlook, we have transferred the sites to the Reserve List so that these sites continue to be made available for sale.

However, we allow the market the flexibility to respond to changes in the economic outlook and adjust the supply of land accordingly.

Developers can bid for sites on the Reserve List at any time.

This market-led approach under the Reserve List system, where sites are released for sale only if there is genuine demand, would allow prices to adjust accordingly and find a level that best reflects prevailing market conditions.

In deciding to transfer the sites to the Reserve List, the Government has also assessed that there is an adequate supply of private residential units and commercial space from projects in the pipeline to meet the needs arising from population and economic growth over the next few years.

We thank Mr Ee for his feedback.

Mr Lim Yuin Chien
Deputy Director (Corporate Communications)
for Permanent Secretary Ministry of National Development

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