Singapore Government Press Release
Media Division, Ministry of Information and The Arts,
MITA Building, 140 Hill Street, 2^nd Storey, Singapore 179369
Tel: 837-9666

In less than 2 generations, Singapore has transformed itself from an old and congested colonial port into a pleasant, modern and efficient island-state with world-class infrastructure. The Concept Plan has played an important role in this transformation.

Since 1971, the Concept Plan has been in place to guide our long-term and strategic direction for physical development. To keep up with the changing world trends and people’s aspirations, we review the plan once every ten years. The last one was done in 1991.

The Concept Plan is not just about building an efficient city. It is also about building a home for Singaporeans. That is why URA spent many months seeking public feedback and consulting various groups and individuals, before putting together the Draft Concept Plan. Two focus groups were formed to discuss the planning dilemmas arising out of competing demand for land for housing, industries, commerce and recreation.

Arising from the focus group discussions, more than 50 recommendations were received on what Singaporeans want to see in the Concept Plan. URA also received many suggestions from the public through email, letters and faxes.

I am glad to note that URA has accepted about two-thirds of the focus groups’ recommendations either in full or in principle. Some of them have been incorporated into the Draft Concept Plan that we will see today. Others still require some more work.

Today, URA is exhibiting the Draft Concept Plan to get more feedback, especially from those who could not participate in the consultation exercise earlier on.

In the 1991 Concept Plan, the vision was to create a tropical city of excellence. In the last ten years, URA and other agencies have been working hard to implement many of the 1991 proposals. We are beginning to see the fruits of their efforts.

Today, we have a wider variety in housing types. Waterfront apartments like those in Tanjong Rhu and Singapore River have more or less been completed. Punggol 21 is in progress.

There are new parks opened, such as Changi Beach and Choa Chu Kang Park. Older ones like West Coast Park and East Coast Park have been improved. Park connectors have also been built to link up some of them.

The Regional Centres like Tampines are now in progress and our new downtown will soon take off, with a site recently awarded for private development.

The Jurong Island for our petro-chemical industries is now in operation, further enhancing our utilization of the southern islands and our position as a major petro-chemical centre. The MRT network has been expanded and a LRT at Bukit Panjang has also been added, bringing much better connectivity between different parts of the island and greater convenience to commuters. We now also see a more vibrant arts and cultural scene at Rochor and Waterloo Street. The new Esplanade – Theatres By The Bay - at Marina Centre will also add richly to the arts scene.

For the 21^st century, we are looking beyond what we envisaged in 1991. We will continue to build the tropical city that we envisioned ten years ago. But more than that, in the new millennium, we aim to be "a thriving world-class city". What exactly does this mean?

When we speak about world class cities, several examples come to mind: London with its lively theatre, arts scene and cosmopolitan character, Paris with its charming cafes, squares and boulevards, Hong Kong with its buzz and energy.

When people mention Singapore, they immediately recognize us as a clean and green city. We want to be more: a global business centre, a hub for culture and arts, an island city that celebrates its tropical greenness and a city that reflects its identity and history.

We want to become a dynamic city for business, leisure and entertainment, a distinctive city with heritage and identity, and most importantly, a delightful place for building our homes and raising our children. The 2001 Concept Plan is the map to help us realize our vision. Let me highlight some of the proposals in the Draft Concept Plan.

The Draft plan is prepared based on a population scenario of 5.5 million people in 40 to 50 years’ time. One key task for the planners is to ensure that we will have enough land to provide homes for everyone in a quality living environment. At the same time, there must be sufficient space set aside for industries, businesses and other needs.

By adapting some of the focus group recommendations, URA has drawn up a plan that can balance all our land needs for housing, recreation, business, industry, etc., within the limited land resources that we have, and still maintain an excellent environment to work and live in.

One key recommendation of the focus group is to move towards higher density housing and at the same time keep sufficient green space for a very pleasant living environment.

Under the plan, we can try out more apartments and flats of 30 storeys or more in areas where there is no height constraint, and adequate infrastructure and services to support them.

One such area can be the Central Area. In fact, the proportion of the population living in the Central Area will be doubled, with the provision of more housing. It means more people can live closer to where they work. It also means more restaurants, more activities and more life in the city!

Apart from the city area, more homes can be built in existing towns where there are vacant lands. In this way, new homes become instantly plugged into existing facilities and infrastructure. Young couples setting up homes need not move far from their parents.

As more young people will move in and new blocks are built, the existing towns will be rejuvenated.

However, we will not be able to increase densities everywhere. The pace at which we increase densities will also be dependent on how well our people adjust to living in higher-density developments. Through good design and the provision of sufficient open space, we can continue to have a quality environment.

The Draft plan aims to strike a good balance between green spaces and living and working spaces. Our aim is to make Singapore interesting, a place where there are lots of different things to do, whether indoor or outdoors, and whether you fancy the arts, sports or nature.

One of the proposals is to create a link between parks or park connectors and homes. One need never be far from a park or a park connector. The central catchment area will be made more accessible. Picnic spots will be created; trails will be opened up sensitively and selectively for more people to enjoy. Some of our reservoirs will be opened up to non-motorised water sports such as canoeing or sailing.

The Draft plan also proposes to keep Pulau Ubin and Lim Chu Kang as reserve land that will remain undeveloped for as long as possible. Some natural areas like Sungei Khatib Bongsu in Simpang and Sungei China mangrove in Woodlands will be integrated with parks.

Apart from the living aspects, the Draft Concept Plan also addresses changing business needs. The knowledge economy calls for new ways of doing business. The Draft Plan’s strategy is thus to make our zoning system more flexible to cater to the rapidly changing business environment.

A new business zone to allow industries and businesses greater flexibility to cope with dynamic changes will be put in place. We will also set aside enough land for high value-added industries like life sciences, petrochemicals and pharmaceuticals that contribute to our economic growth.

Our community and national Identity is something we are all very much concerned with. URA will adopt the focus group idea of identifying and demarcating significant areas of identity in the DGP plans, when the DGP plans are next reviewed.

In addition to buildings, URA will explicitly look into features and places that reflect the identity of an existing area. These features and places can be integrated into the planning and development of a town or an estate. The idea of setting up a Heritage Conservation Trust will also be studied further.

I have just given you some highlights of the Draft Concept Plan. I invite all of you to see for yourselves all the proposals in the Draft Plan in this exhibition and give your feedback.

It is a tough job to balance the needs and wishes of different groups with different views, given the limited land we have. So not every idea can be incorporated. But your views are important to formulate a better plan for Singapore and where feasible, your suggestion will be considered seriously.

As they say, "Rome was not built in a day." Similarly, it will take us many years to develop Singapore into a thriving world-class city. It will require the collective efforts of many Singaporeans to contribute ideas and to make those ideas work.

The focus groups and earlier feedback have contributed to the Draft Plan. I look forward to the public dialogue on 11^th May to hear your views. In the process, let us together make Singapore a dynamic, distinctive and delightful city, (to borrow a phrase from the focus groups report), a Singapore where we can be proud to sink roots, grow and prosper.

It gives me great pleasure now to declare the exhibition open.

Thank you.

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