Johor Regent plans to develop private homes, including GCBs, in Holland Road after land swop

SINGAPORE — The Johor Regent, Tunku Ismail Sultan Ibrahim, is planning to develop about 16ha of land in Holland Road for low-rise housing, after completing a land swop with the Government.

In a statement on March 17, the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) said it had reviewed Tunku Ismail's development application with technical agencies and is proposing to rezone his land from "open space" and "special use" to residential use.

A portion of the site to be used for housing has been assigned a gross plot ratio of 1.4, while the agency intends to designate the rest of it a good class bungalow (GCB) area — where only bungalows can be built.

The plot ratio determines the maximum floor area of a development, and the rezoning — if approved — would facilitate Tunku Ismail's development plans.

On June 10, 2025, the URA and the Singapore Land Authority had announced that the planned land swop deal involved the Republic receiving a 13ha plot of land abutting the Singapore Botanic Gardens, with Tunku Ismail receiving an 8.5ha piece of state land in exchange.

The two agencies had said then that the two plots that were swopped were of "comparable value".

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The land swop was carried out so that Tunku Ismail — who had planned to develop his Holland Road land parcels — would be able to do so farther away from the boundary of the Singapore Botanic Gardens Unesco World Heritage Site.

Following the swop, Tunku Ismail now owns 16.6ha of land in the area, and URA said the site is suitable for low-rise and low-density residential uses — including GCBs — which were part of Tunku Ismail's development application.

The agency said a review by government agencies has concluded that the proposed plans are "compatible and sensitive to the surrounding residential neighbourhood".

It added that should the rezoning be approved, it will designate a portion of the land zoned for residential use as a GCB area "to reflect the type of housing to be developed".

There are at present 39 GCB areas in Singapore, including Ridout Park and Eng Neo Avenue.

Mr Mohan Sandrasegeran, head of research and data analytics at Singapore Realtors Inc, noted that land within GCB areas "is extremely limited and tightly held, with transactions typically occurring between private owners rather than through new land releases".

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"As such, any addition of fresh land parcels into this segment is significant and reinforces the long-term scarcity that underpins the value of good class bungalows," he said, noting that the addition in Tunku Ismail's Holland Road land comes at a time when transactions of such bungalows have increased.

He said there were 30 GCB transactions in 2025, up from 23 in 2024.

URA said that prior to the start of works, the developer of the Holland Road parcels — which are now largely forested — will have to carry out environmental studies to mitigate any potential impact on the environment.

As for the 13ha plot the state received in the swop, URA said it will remain undeveloped for now, to keep plans for the site open.

To this end, a portion of the 13ha plot, which is zoned for "special use", is being proposed for rezoning to "open space".

The current "special use" zoning of land parcels in the area is generally used for military camps, reflecting the area's historical use by British forces.

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This article was first published in The Straits Times. Permission required for reproduction.