It'll be a 'seamless extension' of CBD, to rival London's and Hong Kong's
THE new Marina Bay growth area will be a 'seamless extension' of the Central Business District (CBD) and will offer a significant amount of office space, said National Development Minister Mah Bow Tan yesterday.
LIVELY WATERFRONT: Fifteen years from now, the new Marina Bay financial district will provide premium office space, pedestrian-friendly covered walkways and an extensive underground network. -- PHOTO: URBAN REDEVELOPMENT AUTHORITYAdjacent to Raffles Place and Shenton Way, it will be more than twice the size of London's Canary Wharf and provide as much premium office space as Hong Kong's Central district.
Mr Mah was responding to a question by Mr Liang Eng Hwa (Holland-Bukit Timah GRC) on plans to rejuvenate the CBD and develop Marina Bay.
Mr Mah said: 'Marina Bay remains the centrepiece of our efforts. It will be a seamless extension of Raffles Place, and will offer high-quality office spaces along a lively waterfront.'The district will have a land area of 85ha, more than double the size of London's bustling financial and shopping hub, Canary Wharf.
It will also offer an estimated 2.82 million sq m of office space, the equivalent of Hong Kong's main business district.
Mr Mah also revealed that the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) will release more sites in this area over the next five to six years.
Once built, these projects will provide more than 1.1 million of office space - the total amount of office space in Raffles Place.
The new Marina Bay financial district is expected to take more than 15 years to materialise, he added.
Mr Mah also said the URA will release land around Tanjong Pagar and 'redevelop the Ophir-Rochor corridor into a vibrant office cluster'.
Mr Mah also addressed a query from Mr Zainudin Nordin (Bishan-Toa Payoh GRC) on having more underground connections between buildings in the downtown area.
He said Marina Bay will be a pedestrian-friendly area, with covered walkways on the ground and an extensive underground network linking developments to MRT stations.
He added that the Government is working to ease the office space crunch in both the short and long term.
In the short term, the Government has released land for transitional office sites and vacant state properties, which will yield 150,000 sq m of space. These spaces will be available within a year.
The Government has also temporarily disallowed the conversion of office space to other uses in the central area.
Over the long term, about 1.4 million sq m of office space, equal to about five years of supply, will be completed mostly in 2010 and beyond.
Mr Mah said: 'These measures are going to take some time to filter through to the market. I will suggest that in the meantime, tenants can look at alternative locations outside the central area.'
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