Written Answer by Ministry of National Development on incentivising building owners or developers to provide spaces for community facilities
Mar 14, 2016
Mr Ang Wei Neng: To ask the Minister for National Development whether the Ministry will consider
(a) giving further incentives to building owners or developers to provide spaces for community facilities such as childcare centers, eldercare centers, libraries and community clubs near transport nodes; and
(b) asking HDB to do the same at Town Centres that are near to transport nodes.
Answer:
Since 2003, the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) has been offering gross floor area incentives to building owners and developers to provide spaces for community uses in their commercial developments. Besides incentivising developers to provide public plazas and roof top gardens which can be enjoyed by the community, developers are allowed additional floor space of up to 2,000 sqm or 10% of the maximum allowable floor space for the site, whichever is lower, for community use. To date, there are 33 commercial developments in highly accessible locations that have tapped on this scheme to provide a wide range of community facilities such as childcare centres, eldercare centres, libraries, community clubs and family services centres.
URA reviews the scheme regularly to ensure its relevance to the community, and will consider the need for further incentives to building owners or developers.
For HDB towns, HDB will continue to work with the relevant government agencies to ensure that the community spaces within each town are adequate and well-distributed, including at the Town Centres near to transport nodes. The respective agencies will assess the demand for the social communal facilities under their purview at the site of each new development, taking into account the population catchment, demographics, and existing facilities in the vicinity. For example, in Sengkang, there is a standalone integrated hub located near to the Sengkang MRT station that houses community facilities. The upcoming Bedok Integrated Complex located at Bedok Town Centre will also house various community facilities such as a community club, library, polyclinic, eldercare centre and sports centre.