No ‘one size fits all’ land use pattern

Source : Business Times – 14 Jul 2009

IN land-scarce Singapore, maximising land use can spell cash. And because of this, the plot ratio of a development – the proportion of land occupied by build-ups – is a key criterion for lease renewal applications submitted to JTC.

But sometimes, hard and fast rules can be rigid and restrictive.

When High Q Pressure Vessel Products applied for a lease renewal at the end of last year, it was unable to meet the minimum build-up requirement.

A manufacturer of high-pressure oil and gas equipment and life-support equipment for the marine industry, High Q needs large open spaces to assemble its products, including diver compression chambers and diving chambers, which can be longer than 18 m.

With an overall plot ratio of 50 per cent for its Tuas factory site, High Q was 10 per cent short of the Urban Redevelopment Authority’s requirement, which is also adopted by JTC.

To make things worse, the factory is on two plots of land, one of which was erroneously filed with a plot ratio of zero in JTC’s records.

To correct this, High Q CEO Alfred Gan approached URA to retrieve factory drawings as proof of its plot ratio. The drawings cost him about $300, he said. At the same time, JTC took part in several rounds of talks and site visits to the High Q factory, a process that took two months.

But the hassles eventually paid off, when JTC approved High Q’s lease extension. ‘JTC recognises that there is no ‘one size fits all’ land use pattern as different industries require different built-up areas to operate optimally,’ said a JTC spokesman.

With all documentation fulfilled, final approval for High Q took just 13 days. The difference it made to the company could not be greater.

‘If we had had to put in more structures to suit JTC’s regulations, we would not have been able to continue our operations and assembly,’ Mr Gan said.

He said that the only other places with enough covered ground to fit his systems would have been shipyards, but it would have been impractical for the company to house its workshop and assembly area in two separate locations.

‘Besides logistics and other inconveniences, costs will also rocket,’ he explained.

Also, the certification that High Q has obtained from the American Society of Mechanical Engineers is non-transferrable to another industrial location.

With the lease issue overcome, Mr Gan can now heave a sigh of relief. In fact, he has already spent $150,000 renovating his factory – a move that would have been uneconomic otherwise.