Looking high and low for space

Source : Business Times - 14 Oct 2008

INNOVATION knows no boundaries. And at JTC Corporation, it is literally scaling heights and breaking new ground.

In its continuing bid to overcome Singapore’s space constraints on industrial growth, the agency is exploring concepts for an underground science city, an underground warehouse and factories linked to aerial driveways.

The first two projects are in the preliminary stages of study, and driving them is a motivation to free up surface land for other uses.

‘Besides using the surface as a resource to build on, we are trying to use the underground as an additional resource,’ said JTC assistant CEO Ong Geok Soo.

Catering to research and development activities, the underground science city could take shape near the existing Science Park at Kent Ridge. The city would house laboratories and other facilities in estimated cavern space of 290,000 square metres. This would free about 12 hectares of surface land with a plot ratio of 2.5.

The underground science city could complement the Biopolis and support a range of industries, including digital media, computer engineering and biochemistry, Mr Ong told BT. But, ‘we will need at least another 11/2 years for more detailed analyses’, he said.

JTC’s other project is an underground warehouse in Tanjong Kling. Located within the Jurong Industrial Estate, this would provide storage space for manufactured products.

The warehouse could have cavern space of 1,137,500 sq m, freeing 46 ha of surface land with a plot ratio of 2.5.

Beyond subterranean ventures, JTC is also looking above ground. The agency is studying how it can construct aerial driveways to stack-up factories. These driveways would be built above public roads, allowing vehicles to reach second-storey units directly.

‘This is part of a land optimisation move for more operations to move into high-density stack-up factories,’ said Mr Ong. The aerial driveways would provide ground-floor convenience to these operations, even though they are situated above ground.

JTC is working with various agencies such as the Land Transport Authority to explore the concept, which has reached an advanced stage of study and could be piloted in Tuas.

As the planner and developer of Singapore’s industrial landscape, JTC is no stranger to undertaking large and innovative projects. Jurong Island, for instance, was formed by joining seven offshore islands and has become a hub for petroleum, petrochemical and chemical companies.

Such exciting ventures are not without risks. ‘We often plan ahead for industry needs and that will always involve a bit of uncertainty,’ said Mr Ong.

‘But we minimise the risks by working very closely with the Economic Development Board to find out the needs of the industries they are bringing in.’

Using in-house statistics and information from EDB, JTC projects industrial demands and plans for them. Nevertheless, ‘there will be some factors which are out of our control,’ Mr Ong said. ‘Construction costs, for instance, are determined by the market.’

JTC’s role is crucial when it comes to strategic projects involving certain scale, risks or technical complexity.

‘We maximise the private sector’s participation whenever possible,’ he said. ‘But if the risks or investments involved are too high, JTC will undertake the projects as the development agency.’