URA Revenue From Land Sales Surges 80% To $8.3b

Source : The Business Times, October 3, 2008

LAND sales revenue collected by the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) for the Singapore government reached $8.3 billion for FY07/08, up 80 per cent on the $4.6 billion collected during the property market peak of FY96/97.

According to URA's Annual Report FY07/08, development charge collected by URA for the current period also hit a record $1.1 billion.

On a year-on-year basis, land sales revenue for the year rose about 200 per cent over the $2.7 billion collected for FY06/07, while development charge revenue increased by about 100 per cent over the $527 million collected. A total of 31 sites were sold in FY07/08 compared with 16 sites the previous year.

The key sites sold under the Government Land Sales programme in the past year include two Marina View land parcels and a site at Beach Road.

Operating surplus increased by 75 per cent or $11.1 million to $25.9 million. However, the lower investment income earned in FY07/08 resulted in a decrease in the total surplus by 74 per cent or $78.6 million to $28.3 million.

Current assets fell to $1.33 billion for the period, down from $1.38 billion the previous financial year.

Capital and development expenditure rose by $18.3 million or 96 per cent to $37.3 million. The rise was mainly due to higher development expenditure for implementing infrastructural and environmental enhancement works for the Downtown at Marina Bay and the Southern Ridges projects.

The net surplus of $23.2 million was lower than the previous year's $85.5 million due to a drop in URA's non-operating surplus.

URA said that this resulted from a shift of some of its surplus funds to more liquid and lower yielding assets such as bonds and bank deposits to fund its development projects, and also a reduced return from investment from the volatile equity market in FY07/08.

Operating income for the year increased by $29.7 million to $166.8 million. The increase was mainly due to higher agency fees from sale of site and agency projects, and income from processing more development applications.

Agency and consultancy fees increased by 54 per cent to $34.7 million, while income from development control rose 57 per cent to $30 million for the year.

Operating income from parking fees and related charges increased by 7 per cent to $59.3 million.