JTC bulldozes old to bring in the new

SINGAPORE — As the Republic continues with its economic restructuring efforts, new and creative ways to overcome land constraints are needed for the key manufacturing sector to move up the value chain and create good jobs, Trade and Industry Minister Lim Hng Kiang said yesterday.

One viable way of doing so is to redevelop older industrial estates such as Tanjong Kling, which used to house many land-based facilities, he said. Today, the estate has been transformed with the development of high-rise industrial space to optimise land use and support the growth of the manufacturing sector, which accounted for about 20 per cent of last year’s growth domestic product.

“The manufacturing sector is an important engine of growth for Singapore’s economy … Apart from improving land productivity, the rejuvenation of old estates also complements our economic restructuring efforts. As the economy shifts to focus on higher value-added activities, revitalising our estates will provide a boost to industries that are higher on the value chain as well as create good jobs for Singaporeans,” Mr Lim said at the opening of JTC Surface Engineering Hub.

The S$59 million facility sitting on a 1.9ha site in Tanjong Kling is part of industrial landlord and developer JTC’s effort to help industrialists reduce operating costs and remain competitive. The facility has a centralised wastewater treatment plant, removing the need for tenants to invest in their own systems, reducing their land requirement and lowering their upfront capital investment.

“Traditionally, surface engineering companies tend to be housed in stand-alone landed factories with their own wastewater treatment facilities. This approach is costly as the companies would have to invest significant capital to set up their own wastewater treatment facilities as well as take up more land to house them,” said JTC CEO Png Cheong Boon. “In addition, for smaller surface engineering companies with lower volume, such facilities are usually not fully utilised.”

JTC said six companies had leased space at the hub. One of them, JEP Precision Engineering, saw the facility as an opportunity to expand its operations at a lower cost. “We had plans to expand our business to include a special process that required building a wastewater treatment plant at our current Changi facility. But locating at the hub … helped us lower our space requirement by 350sqm and our upfront capital investment by S$300,000. Besides reducing overhead costs, we also reduced operating costs by 15 per cent,” said JEP CEO Soh Chee Siong.