4 industrial sites to go on sale by year end

SINGAPORE - Four sites will be put up for tender under the Industrial Government Land Sales programme before the end of the year.

The sales are "part of the Government's efforts to offer more choices for industrial development", said JTC and the Urban Redevelopment Authority in a joint statement on Thursday.

Two of the sites are in Tuas South; the other two are in Gambas Crescent. They have a combined land area of nearly 3.4ha.

The Tuas South sites - each with a land tenure of 21 years and nine months - are zoned for Business 2 development, making them suitable for heavy industries.

Consultants said each plot is likely to draw a top bid of $75 to $90 per sq ft per plot ratio (psf ppr) and five to 10 bids.

Colliers International's executive director of industrial services, Mr Tan Boon Leong, said the relative scarcity of such small sites - the two plots are 0.3ha and 0.5ha in size - would make them popular with developers as their total price would be cheaper than those for larger sites.

R'ST Research director Ong Kah Seng said demand from industrialists is likely to be strong - many now see owning their own production space as being vital to ensuring long-term certainty.

The Gambas Crescent sites are larger, at 1.2ha and 1.35ha. Each has a land tenure of 30 years and is zoned for Business 1 development - suitable for light industrial use.

Colliers International research and advisory director Chia Siew Chuin said that so far this year, only one Business 1 site has been sold under a state tender. The site was in Ubi Avenue 4 and its tender closed in February.

Consultants reckon the top bid for each of the Gambas Crescent plots will range from $95 to $110 psf ppr, with three to five bids expected for each site.

Mr Tan said the price is unlikely to exceed the top bid of $136 psf ppr lodged by a Hock Lian Seng subsidiary for a 60-year leasehold site in Gambas Avenue in November 2011.

SLP International research head Nicholas Mak said the 1.35ha parcel is likely to draw a slightly higher winning bid than the 1.2ha plot because of its regular shape and larger size.

He said both Gambas Crescent plots are large enough to accommodate a variety of development options such as flatted factories, ramp-up factories and low-rise multi-storey developments where some of the strata units can incorporate floor-to-ceiling heights that will meet the needs of logistics companies.

melissat@sph.com.sg

Get a copy of The Straits Times or go to straitstimes.com for more stories.