SINGAPORE is planning to create its own hedge-fund capital modelled after Greenwich, Connecticut, in a cluster of ex-British army homes called Nepal Hill, a 15- minute cab-ride from the city-state’s main banking district.

The Monetary Authority of Singapore and JTC Corp – the government agency developing and marketing the project in Nepal Hill – quietly asked hedge fund managers in January to visit the district’s so-called black-and-white bungalows, named for their white-washed walls and dark timber frames, according to a copy of the invitation obtained by Bloomberg News.

Singapore is seeking to attract firms planning to expand in the region as Asia leads the global economic recovery and the US and Europe increase regulation. The proposed cluster follows tax and regulatory incentives that have made it easier for funds to set up shop on the island than in Asian cities such as Hong Kong and Tokyo, helping the industry grow from near zero in 1997 to almost 140 firms today.

Aisling Analytics Pte will ‘certainly look at it as a potential location’ when its lease at Suntec City, next to the central business district, comes up for renewal, said Michael Coleman, the hedge-fund firm’s managing director.

‘I’ve visited and think it’s a very interesting development and a great alternative to a traditional office,’ he said. ‘You’re surrounded by greenery, have your own garden to enjoy and the area is rapidly developing.’

The downside is that it’s ‘off the beaten track’ for investors used to meeting in Singapore’s main office districts, Mr Coleman said. Aisling manages the US$1.6 billion Merchant Commodity Fund and the Merchant Equity Fund.

Rents in Singapore, the most expensive in Asia after Tokyo and Hong Kong, fell 46 per cent, on average, in the fourth quarter, the steepest decline in the region from a year earlier, according to Boston-based commercial real estate company Colliers International. The average top-grade office monthly rental in Singapore’s central business district fell to an average of $6.29 (US$4.50) per square foot in the last quarter, Colliers said in a report last month.

JTC could lure managers by making rents at Nepal Hill ‘very attractive, at least at the beginning’, said Stephane Pizzo, who set up his hedge-fund investing firm, Lotus Peak Capital, last year. He said that he has yet to view the proposed enclave because the space offered was ‘too large’ for his business. He currently works from a refurbished shophouse in Chinatown where more than half a dozen Italian restaurants are within walking distance of his office.

‘The hub idea on paper is great, but it needs to be encouraged,’ Mr Pizzo said. ‘The more people and incentives to move there, the better.’

Nepal Hill is part of a development called ‘one-north’, referring to Singapore’s location one degree north of the equator, that is already home to industry clusters including Singapore’s biomedical research hub, Biopolis. The 180-hectare area will be developed in stages within the next 20 years, JTC said in the invitation to managers.

The bungalows, which formerly housed British army personnel and their families, are remnants of Singapore’s history under British colonial rule. The proposed enclave is across the road from the Rochester Park dining hub, where restaurants such as Min Jiang, which serves Szechuan cuisine, and bars including Da Paolo Bistro Bar are also housed in colonial bungalows.

The island-state’s hedge fund industry has grown to 138 single-strategy hedge-fund managers employing more than 800 professionals from near zero in 1997, according to a survey by the local chapter of the Alternative Investment Management Association.

The industry oversees at least US$34.9 billion, excluding assets managed by several of the large global firms, it said, making it Asia’s second biggest behind Hong Kong.

Source: Business Times, 6 Mar 2010

one-north site may turn into hedge-fund capital

THE cluster of 16 black-and-white bungalows in Buona Vista was once home to British troops stationed in colonial Singapore. But the rustic area, called Nepal Hill, may soon turn into the country’s newest financial district.

JTC Corporation – the agency developing and marketing Nepal Hill – said in a statement yesterday that it is in talks with investment managers about the site.

‘Nepal Hill is one of the heritage areas within one-north,’ it said. ‘It is also an alternative location for investment managers which is envisioned to strengthen Singapore’s value proposition as a premier asset management centre in Asia.’

Bloomberg News reported yesterday that Singapore is planning to create its own hedge-fund capital modelled after Greenwich, a town in the United States with a high concentration of hedge funds.

Hedge funds are large privately-run investment funds that have increasingly dominated the global investment scene in recent years.

Bloomberg said the Monetary Authority of Singapore and JTC Corp had courted fund managers by inviting them to visit Nepal Hill at a networking event in January.

The site is part of one-north, JTC Corp’s 200 ha innovation and research hub, which includes science and technology research centre Fusionopolis and biomedical hub Biopolis.

JTC Corp said two years ago that the bungalows – commonly referred to as black-and-whites due to their white-washed walls and black frames – were being refurbished for ‘adaptive use’.

But the rare and lush enclave, just a 14-minute train-ride from Raffles Place and across the road from trendy dining spots in Rochester Park, could offer hedge funds and other high-end financial service providers an alternative to concrete skyscrapers downtown.

With Asia leading the global economic recovery, Singapore continues to be an attractive location for firms looking to expand in the region.

The proposed increase in regulation by Western authorities, coupled with tax and regulatory incentives here make it more appealing for hedge funds to operate in the Lion City.

Details are still sketchy as far as rental rates and how the site will be further developed are concerned, but the response from hedge funds have been mixed so far.

Aisling Analytics’ Michael Coleman told Bloomberg his firm will look at Nepal Hill as a potential location when its lease at Suntec City is up for renewal. ‘I’ve visited and think it’s a very interesting development and a great alternative to a traditional office,’ said the hedge fund managing director.

‘You’re surrounded by greenery, have your own garden to enjoy and the area is rapidly developing.’

However, Man Investments’ executive director Timothy Peach, who has also visited the site, feels that Nepal Hill would not work for his company, which is based at One George Street. ‘Almost all of our clients are based in the CBD, and we have to be close to them,’ said Mr Peach, who lives in a black-and-white off Tanglin Road.

‘It’s a nice little idea but definitely not suitable for us because we’re one of the largest hedge fund companies in the world employing some 1,500 people globally.’

Source: Straits Times, 6 Mar 2010

Singapore’s first eco-business park is expected to create 20,000 jobs and draw some $2.5 billion worth of investments in buildings by its 2030 completion.

CleanTech Park (CTP) will be an ‘epi-centre’ for research, innovation and commercialisation of clean technology from both the public and private sectors, JTC Corporation and the Economic Development Board (EDB) said yesterday as they unveiled the masterplan for the 50-hectare Nanyang Avenue site.

A key initiative of the $1 billion Singapore Sustainable Blueprint announced last year, CleanTech Park is to be ‘emblematic of how businesses can achieve both economic vibrancy and environmental sustainability; function in harmony and nature,’ JTC chief executive Manohar Khiatani said.

At a macro level, CleanTech Park fleshes out the Economic Strategies Committee’s vision of Singapore as a ‘living lab’ for global companies to test-bed and commercialise green solutions, especially for urban and tropical settings. It will also be a significant leg-up for the cleantech industry which EDB sees as a key growth cluster and expects to contribute $3.4 billion to GDP and employ 18,000 people by 2015.

EDB deputy managing director Tan Choon Sian said: ‘We do believe that there will be strong interest from companies, with increased interest in eco- friendly spaces and environmental sustainability.’

CTP broadens the range of options that EDB can offer to the investors it seeks to bring into Singapore too, he said.

While it is a first for Asia, CTP offers a unique proposition even when compared to global parks of similar orientation, EDB director for cleantech Goh Chee Kiong said. ‘First, we have the full continuum of cleantech activities from upstream R&D to commercialisation and test-bedding. Second, we can develop and test-bed solutions for the tropical climate while most innovations are now developed in and for temperate climates,’ he said.

The first of CTP’s three phases of development over the next 20 years kicks off with infrastructural works in July. The park’s total infrastructure investment will be $52 million.

JTC intends to develop the site in an environmentally sustainable manner. Green strategies such as stormwater management, green walkways and sky trellises between buildings, solar panels, conservation zones and green construction methods will thus feature strongly.

By the end of Phase 1 in 2018, about 250 local and foreign SMEs and MNCs are expected to be housed on an initial 17 hectares of land within the park.

Other than pure-play cleantech firms, JTC also hopes to draw eco-friendly product and service sellers, or businesses with a strong green identity. Its first anchor tenant will be neighbouring Nanyang Technological University, which will help seed R&D activities at the park and is expected to catalyse collaborations between industry and academia. NTU already has tie-ups with companies such as Japanese water technology firm Toray.

Mr Khiatani stressed that while ecology and environmental sustainability is the park’s distinguishing mark, commercial viability remains key. The park’s one million square metres of space will thus be ‘priced competitively’, he said.

Colliers International industrial director Tan Boon Leong suggested that government agencies could lead the way to ’show that there are substantial benefits and savings to be had’, while CB Richard Ellis director of industrial and logistics services Bernard Goh thinks a premium of 10 to 20 per cent will be attractive though tax incentives may be needed if costs range 40-50 per cent above other business parks.

Industry players were excited about CTP’s potential to transform the young cleantech sector here.

Edwin Khew, chairman of the Sustainable Energy Association of Singapore which represents 140 companies, said: ‘This creates a centre of excellence, a very attractive place to generate business. Investors can meet tech providers, carbon management companies, project managers – all in a single place. ‘On top of that, our technologies can be test-bedded, showcased and demonstrated as entire systems in the park itself.’

Member companies are being encouraged to take out small offices in CTP.

Ron Mahabir, managing director of Asia Cleantech Capital, a private equity firm focused on cleantech, said that he would consider CTP for several companies in his firms’ portfolio such as Zeco Systems and Annex Power.

Source: Business Times, 26 Feb 2010

Healthy demand for industrial properties expected in 2010, say analysts

JTC Corp yesterday said that net allocation of its ready-built facilities (RBF) returned to positive territory in Q4 2009. In the first three quarters of 2009, net allocation was negative as termination outstripped gross allocation.

But net allocation for the whole of 2009 was still negative as the group’s properties were hit by weak global economic conditions.

Net allocation was negative 24,800 square metres in 2009. By comparison, net allocation was a positive 90,700 sq m in 2008.

But in Q4, net allocation was a positive 2,100 sq m. Net allocation was negative 8,900 sq m in Q1, negative 7,800 sq m in Q2 and negative 10,300 sq m in Q3.

The occupancy level at the RBF also rebounded slightly in Q4, climbing up 0.1 percentage point from Q3 to end 2009 at 97.2 per cent.

Year-on-year, the occupancy level rose by 0.4 percentage points. The drop in demand over the year was offset by lower supply as stock was retired for product renewal, JTC said.

Analysts have said that the industrial sector here could see a turnaround this year.

‘A healthy demand for industrial properties is expected in 2010 and rents are projected to begin their upward climb in the second half of the year,’ said CB Richard Ellis in its Q4 2009 report on the Singapore market.

DTZ likewise predicted that the industrial market may see a turnaround in 2010 with rental decline easing off gradually and rents bottoming by the end of this year.

Within the RBF, the business park segment experienced the biggest year-on-year fall, with net allocation dropping to 1,100 sq m in 2009 from 48,300 sq m in the previous year.

However, the decline was from an exceptionally high base in 2008 which benefited from the completion and take-up of Fusionopolis Phase 1.

Fusionopolis phase 2A is currently under construction and is expected to be completed by 2014.

Net allocation for JTC’s prepared industrial land (PIL) managed to stay in positive territory in 2009. Net allocation for this segment came to 101 ha in 2009, compared to 200.9 ha in 2008.

The performance, which JTC said was ‘resilient’, was supported by a significant allocation in the fourth quarter of 2009 for the integrated yard facility in Tuas as well as steady take-up for Seletar Aerospace Park. Net allocation for Q4 2009 was 105 ha.

Overall, gross allocation of PIL fell 34 per cent to 175.6 ha in 2009 while termination increased 17 per cent to 74.7 ha. A large proportion – 44.6 ha or 60 per cent – of the land terminated came from the manufacturing sector.

Within manufacturing, the electronics segment registered the highest termination with 23.9 ha given up, followed by the precision engineering segment with 7.3 ha terminated.

A total of 30.1 ha – or 40 per cent – of PIL termination came from the manufacturing related & supporting industries sector.

Source: Business Times, 18 Feb 2010

GLOBAL economic woes triggered a lower take-up of industrial space last year at landlord JTC Corp.

It was hit by a negative net take-up of 24,800 sq m in ready-built factory space last year; a sharp reversal of the positive net take-up of 90,700 sq m seen in 2008.

In prepared industrial land, net take-up was still positive at 101ha last year, although much lower than the 200.9ha in 2008.

Faced with extremely cautious business sentiment during the year, companies took up less space. Ready-built factory space was down on the previous year partly because of a downturn in the business park segment. It saw net take-up in this category drop to 1,100 sq m last year, from 48,300 sq m in the previous year.

JTC explained, however, that the drop in ready-built factory space take-up ‘was from an exceptionally high base in 2008, which benefited from the successful completion and take-up of Fusionopolis Phase 1′.

Termination of its ready-built facilities fell by 18 per cent to 88,800 sq m last year from 108,000 sq m in 2008. About 61 per cent, or 53,900 sq m, of the total of ready-built facilities were terminated by tenants from the manufacturing sector.

Within manufacturing, the precision engineering and electronic segments reported terminations of 17,000 sq m and 16,200 sq m respectively.

Take-up in the prepared industrial land category remained resilient, according to JTC. It said the performance in this category was boosted by a significant fourth-quarter take-up for the integrated yard facility in Tuas, as well as steady take-up for Seletar Aerospace Park.

Last year, the manufacturing sector accounted for 60 per cent of the prepared industrial land that was terminated. The electronic segment of manufacturing registered the highest termination, with 23.9ha given up.

Source: Straits Times, 18 Feb 2010

DEVELOPMENT of the planned Underground Science City (USC) at Kent Ridge is gaining momentum, with JTC Corporation now embarking on a thorough soil and rock investigation of the site.

This follows its award of a tender in December to a Swiss-Singapore consortium to get detailed designs and cost estimates for the project which spans a 20-hectare geological formation below Science Parks 1, 2 and 3 as well as Kent Ridge Park.

The consortium of Amberg Engineering and Jurong Consultants has a 13-month timeline to complete that study, with the results expected in January next year, a JTC spokeswoman said.

Amberg specialises in underground construction like road and railway tunnels and has built caverns for the Swiss Army and Swiss Air Force while Jurong Consultants is part of the Jurong International Group.

Jurong International said on its website that the study will “look into the potential of underground caverns for research laboratories and data centres. It will reassess the maximum build size for the cavern complex as well as other environmental and demographic factors”.

The JTC spokewoman said that the latest soil and rock study – a tender for which was called on Friday – is part of ongoing feasibility studies for the project. “It is still at conceptual stage at this point,” she added.

The soil and rock investigation is expected to take about four months.

The appointed consultant-contractor will undertake detailed studies like rock core drillings to obtain data down to approximately 150 metres, and to investigate the quality and properties of bedrock at the site.

The consultant will also need to have specialists such as an engineering geologist or geotechnical engineer, an experienced drilling specialist and a geophysicist for the study.

Additionally, the JTC tender also specified that the contractor should have a geologist who has good knowledge and 10 years? experience in local geology in Singapore or similar soil/rock formations like the Jurong Formation.

With land getting scarce, the USC is one of several underground projects which Singapore is now pursuing.

Source: Business Times, 1 Feb 2010

It’ll have more facilities for pre-clinical trials; medical tech cluster also in the works at Tukang

THE government is ramping up development of the biomedical sciences sector, with plans to release another site at Biopolis for tender and set up a new medical technology cluster at Tukang.

Phase Four at Biopolis could cost some $80-$100 million to build and will have more facilities for pre-clinical trials, JTC Corporation said yesterday.

The expansion will add another 40,000 square metres of gross floor area (GFA) to the biomedical research and development (R&D) centre in Buona Vista. JTC will award the project to a private developer this year, and the site could be ready by end-2012 or early-2013.

According to JTC, there has been an increase in demand for R&D spaces. Gross expenditure on R&D was $7.18 billion in 2008, or 2.77 per cent of GDP. Singapore’s aim is to have this reach 3 per cent of GDP, JTC said.

Biopolis currently comprises three phases, which together cost close to $700 million to develop. Phases One and Two have more facilities for basic research. Phase Three is under construction and should be completed by the end of this year.

Phase Four will house more facilities for pre-clinical trials. There will also be laboratories built around a ’shelf-plus’ concept, fitted with basic equipment and furnishings to help reduce set-up costs for smaller outfits.

Over in the Jurong area, JTC is drawing up plans for a medical technology cluster that will house sterilisation facilities, warehouses, laboratories, equipment manufacturers, suppliers and other supporting firms under one roof.

The cluster would be located next to Tukang Innovation Park and could be built in two phases, each measuring 40,000 square metres. The first phase could cost $60-80 million to develop.

According to JTC, the medical technology industry is headed for more growth. Singapore’s manufacturing output from the sector is expected to increase from $2.9 billion in 2008 to $5 billion by 2015.

Going by data from the Economic Development Board yesterday, the biomedical manufacturing sector (which includes medical technology and pharmaceutical activities) attracted $1.1 billion of fixed asset investment commitments in 2009.

JTC believes that the cluster environment would foster greater collaboration within the medical technology industry and lead to several benefits, such as faster product developments.

The agency is in talks with companies in the industry to obtain their feedback on the concept. If it takes off, the first phase of the cluster could be ready towards the middle or end of 2013.

JTC is also working on a concept for high-rise biologics plants. These plants would have plot ratios which are almost double those of traditional low-rise plants and would take up less land.

Source: Business Times, 26 Jan 2010

JTC Corporation has unveiled two new concepts that could optimise land use and promote synergy within industries.

The first involves a giant hoisting system to move bulky goods to a company’s doorstep – even if it is on a high floor. This would allow developers to build taller industrial facilities and intensify land use by at least 20 per cent.

The second concept looks at housing factories, warehouses and workers’ dormitories in a single complex.

With shared driveways and fewer setbacks needed, land take-up could be cut about 35 per cent.

JTC started examining the two concepts last year and expects to complete its study this year.

‘We are looking at feasibility now,’ said land planning division director Josephine Loke. ‘When we are ready, we will share with industrialists to get their buy-in and feedback.’

JTC staff got the idea for the first concept – a cluster industrial complex with mega hoist – from seeing how cranes at ports worked.

They developed the idea and came up with a design that incorporates a huge hoist in the middle of a complex. Factories can occupy one side of the complex and warehouses the other, sharing the hoist and loading bay for moving goods.

The complex could be five storeys, with a plot ratio of 2.5. This is 23 per cent higher than the plot ratio for stack-up factories at Woodlands Spectrum 1 and 2, which is 2.04.

And because there is no need for a vehicle ramp for trucks to transport goods to higher floors, the design saves up to 0.5 ha of land area.

Industries which could fit into such a complex include those in electronics and precision engineering.

The second design is based on a ‘plug-and-play’ concept. A row of warehouses, logistics facilities, car parks and other amenities will form a central ’spine’. Flatted factories and workers’ dormitories will be built on top of this spine.

Industrialists can then ‘plug in’ to this spine by building their own modular factories along it. At the same time, they can share car parks, access ways for moving goods and other amenities.

Locating various facilities together means less space needs to be set aside for internal driveways and setbacks.

This complex can have a plot ratio of 1.5, almost double the 0.85 for a type E9 standard factory today.

Both concepts are likely to be tested at Jurong. JTC is open to letting private-sector developers handle the projects, but it is also ready to take the lead if the projects turn out to be too intensive.

Source: Business Times, 5 Jan 2010

JTC is looking to overcome Singapore’s chronic land shortage problem by using two radical land-optimisation concepts.

The industrial land agency has come up with what it terms the ‘cluster industrial complex with mega-hoist’, and the ‘plug-and-play factory’.

The first proposes the use of mega-hoists – commonly used in port operations – which would permit containers to be hoisted from ground level to the ‘doorstep’ of each floor of a complex and eliminate the need for ramps.

This mechanism is better equipped for multi-storey buildings and enables JTC to consider constructing taller ones on a plot of land, reducing land usage by 0.5ha.

JTC’s existing pioneering stack-up facility, Woodlands Spectrum, has a plot ratio (the gross floor area of a building divided by the site area) of 2.04, but a mega-hoist in a stack-up facility would take this ratio to 2.5.

Ngee Ann Polytechnic real estate lecturer Nicholas Mak described the concept as ‘radical’ but not necessarily without problems. ‘With many small users, there might be a long queue for the hoist during certain peak hours, resulting in a bottleneck,’ he said.

Savills’ director of industrial services Dominic Peters expressed similar concerns. ‘Given time taken with a hoist, it may not be as productive as a typical ramp.’

The second concept, the plug-and-play factory, is designed for industries such as oil, gaS and aerospace, where operations cannot be conducted in multi-stacked facilities.

It greatly reduces the quantity of land used for an industrial development via the use of shared services and what is called co-location.

Companies have to share a centralised ‘backbone’ that comprises warehousing and logistic facilities, as well as a workers’ dormitory.

Factories are located alongside, with each plugging into the backbone’s services. Such an integrated facility would enable more factories to be built on a smaller piece of land, with land use cut by 35 per cent.

Mr Peters added that ’stand-alone facilities are important due to business secrecy’ and confidentiality, and competition may not favour co-locating.

It is thought that the centralised housing for foreign workers envisaged by the approach may provide a solution to the ongoing problem of finding suitable accommodation for migrant workers.

JTC is currently conducting a feasibility study of the two concepts, which it expects to conclude by the end of the year. Ms Josephine Loke, director of land planning at JTC, said that the key is ensuring operating costs did not increase for industrialists.

She disclosed that the techniques would most likely be tested in Jurong first and, if successful, then rolled out to industrial areas in the east.

Source: Straits Times, 5 Jan 2010

Completed 21 years in advance, the island has become a magnet for petrochemical investments

FROM seven idyllic islands to one big bustling petrochemical centre, the formation of Jurong Island in the last 14 years has been nothing short of extraordinary. Even more striking is how reclamation works on the island recently ended – 21 years ahead of schedule.

‘We had defied great odds to complete this reclamation ahead of time,’ said JTC Corporation chairman Cedric Foo at Jurong Island’s reclamation completion ceremony in September.

Jurong Island is the answer to a vision that came about as early as in the 1960s. Back then, Singapore was among the top three oil refining centres in the world, but it was looking for a ‘quantum leap’ to maintain its edge in the petrochemical industry.

‘Regional countries were also planning to set up refineries for their own domestic market,’ Minister for Trade and Industry Lim Hng Kiang recounted at the reclamation completion ceremony. ‘We realised that we needed a quantum leap to stay ahead of the competition.’

What Singapore needed was to build up and integrate the petroleum industry with the petrochemical industry. But there was insufficient industrial land on the mainland to house more chemical companies. ‘This gave rise to the bold idea to reclaim and join seven southern islands into what we know today as Jurong Island,’ Mr Lim said.

Three oil giants were already operating on three of the islands – Esso on Pulau Ayer Chawan, Singapore Refining Company on Pulau Merlimau and Mobil Oil on Pulau Pesek.

The other four islands – Pulau Ayer Merbau, Pulau Pesek Kecil, Pulau Sakra and Pulau Seraya – also became important pieces of the vision.

In 1991, JTC became the agent for developing Jurong Island. Working closely with various government agencies, it delivered the necessary infrastructure and services such as roads, drains and utilities.

Reclamation works began in 1995 and a fair number of challenges cropped up as Jurong Island took shape.

For instance, in 2005, the authorities had to divert and realign a stretch of the Jurong Island Highway – together with 17 pipelines and 4 core fibre-optic cables – to meet ExxonMobil’s needs for a contiguous plot of land next to their current cracker.

‘This was a mammoth undertaking,’ Mr Lim said. ‘JTC worked closely with the affected companies and agencies to devise innovative solutions to minimise disruption to business operations on the island.’

Alternative ways

Disruptions to the import of sea sand also posed a risk to progress. But ‘we opened up alternative sources of sand supply and explored other ways to meet our needs’, Mr Lim said.

The aim was to complete reclamation works in 2030. But as demand for land on Jurong Island surged, JTC brought the third and fourth phases of the project forward and completed the reclamation well ahead of schedule.

Jurong Island is today the cornerstone of Singapore’s energy and chemical industry. It spans 3,000 hectares – a giant compared with the seven islands which occupied a total land mass of just 991 ha.

Not only has Jurong Island grown in size, it has also grown in economic clout. In 2000, 61 petrochemical companies invested $21 billion on the island. Today, there are 95 firms pouring in over $31 billion into fixed assets.

The recession had at one point forced some companies to postpone projects on Jurong Island. But with the economy picking up, some plans are back on track.

For instance, China Huaneng – the new owner of Tuas Power – will go ahead to build a $2 billion clean coal and biomass cogeneration plant on Jurong Island. Reports also note that Jurong Aromatics Corporation could resume its US$2 billion petrochemical investment.

Because of strong investor interest, Jurong Island is running out of space. Some 75 per cent of the 3,000 hectares of land has been taken up or reserved by oil and petrochemical investors, JTC told BT recently. ‘JTC is in discussions with companies for the remaining 25 per cent,’ the agency’s spokeswoman said. In his speech at the reclamation completion ceremony, JTC’s Mr Foo said that the agency will continue to improve infrastructure on Jurong Island to anchor more investments.

One new facility Jurong Island will be getting is a barging terminal. This will give chemical companies an alternative transport option to trucking – there are only a few roads which trucks carrying hazardous materials can use to get to the island currently. The terminal will be built on the western part of the island and the first phase of the project will be ready by 2011.

New roads

There could also be a new road link to Jurong Island. JTC has completed a preliminary study on building another road from the mainland, which would cater to the growing working population. Some 38,000 people pass through the island’s checkpoint daily. JTC still needs to iron out details such as the position and cost of the second link, which could be ready by 2017.

To boost security on Jurong Island, JTC will also introduce a biometric access system at the checkpoint. The system should be completed by 2011.

‘We will continue to find ways to adjust the Jurong Island profile to bring about stronger integration for greater operating efficiencies by the companies, and in particular to include new entrants,’ said Minister Lim.

‘Our vision is for Jurong Island to be a global energy and chemical hub. We intend to achieve a critical mass of feedstock, move to higher value chemical chains which produce speciality chemicals and advanced materials, and partner companies in developing new chemical products.’

Source: Business Times, 1 Dec 2009