Incentives for Building Owners and Developers to Provide Space for Community Facilities
Ministry of National DevelopmentSpeakers
Summary
This question concerns incentives for developers and HDB to provide community facility spaces, such as childcare and eldercare centres, near transport nodes. Minister for National Development Lawrence Wong explained that URA offers gross floor area incentives allowing commercial developments additional space for community use, capped at 2,000 square metres or 10% of allowable floor space. To date, 33 developments have utilized this scheme, which URA reviews regularly to ensure relevance and determine if further incentives are necessary. Minister for National Development Lawrence Wong added that HDB works with various agencies to distribute facilities based on population catchment and site-specific demand. Examples include integrated hubs in Sengkang and Bedok Town Centre, which house facilities like libraries and polyclinics near transport nodes to serve the community.
Transcript
35 Mr Ang Wei Neng asked the Minister for National Development whether the Ministry will consider (i) giving further incentives to building owners or developers to provide spaces for community facilities, such as childcare centres, eldercare centres, libraries and community clubs, near transport nodes; and (ii) asking HDB to do the same at Town Centres that are near to transport nodes.
Mr Lawrence Wong: Since 2003, the 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 rooftop gardens which can be enjoyed by the community, developers are allowed additional floor space of up to 2,000 square metres 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 service 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.