National Development Minister Mah Bow Tan said in Parliament on Thursday that the government has set aside a new growth area in Marina Bay. This will yield an estimated 2.8 million sqm of gross floor area for office use.
The future vision of Marina Bay - URA PhotoMarina Bay – a centrepiece of efforts to ensure there is sufficient office space to meet future needs – will be a seamless extension of the current Central Business District at Raffles Place.
At 85 hectares, the new growth area will be more than twice the size of Raffles Place, which now spans 31 hectares.
About 40 percent of the available office space has already been taken up by developments such as One Raffles Quay, the Marina Bay Financial Centre and white sites at Marina View.
Mr Mah said: "To give you an idea of its eventual scale, the amount of space that will be generated within the area located immediately adjacent to the existing financial district at Raffles Place and Shenton Way will be equivalent to two Canary Wharfs in London.
"It will provide as much Grade A office space as Hong Kong's Central. URA will make available more sites for development in this area over the next five to six years, in line with market demand."
More land will also be released around Tanjong Pagar, as well as redevelopment plans for the Ophir and Rochor area to transform it into a vibrant office cluster.
Mr Mah said the office market will remain tight until 2009. But some 1.4 million sqm of office space should become available in 2010 and beyond.
To ease the supply crunch, the government will continue to release land for transitional office sites.
The office developments at Scotts and Anthony Roads – two parcels on short-term leases of 15 years – could be completed by mid-2009.
These transitional office land parcels will join three others awarded previously at Scotts Road, Tampines Avenue 5 and Mountbatten Road. - CNA/so
No comments:
Post a Comment