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Jurong Country Club to make way for HSR

SINGAPORE — Just under a week after it was announced that the high-speed rail (HSR) linking Singapore and Kuala Lumpur would terminate in Jurong, the Government announced yesterday that the 67-ha site currently occupied by the Jurong Country Club (JCC) will be acquired by November next year to make way for the terminal station.

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SINGAPORE — Just under a week after it was announced that the high-speed rail (HSR) linking Singapore and Kuala Lumpur would terminate in Jurong, the Government announced yesterday that the 67-ha site currently occupied by the Jurong Country Club (JCC) will be acquired by November next year to make way for the terminal station.

The station will take up less than a fifth of the site, with the rest of the area to be redeveloped into what the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) called “an attractive mixed-use development precinct for business” consisting of offices, hotels, recreation, retail and entertainment spaces.

The Singapore Land Authority (SLA) has gazetted the acquisition of the site under the Land Acquisition Act. The club’s existing lease ends in May 2035, and compensation will be based on the market value of the land at the date of acquisition.

At a press conference that was attended by representatives from the URA, SLA and the Land Transport Authority (LTA), URA chief executive officer Ng Lang said: “The high-speed rail terminus, when it’s eventually built, is not going to exist in isolation. You’ll need supporting infrastructure around it — mainly for transport, for amenities — to allow us to benefit from the economic opportunities of having a station. All that considered … you’ll need to have a sizeable area around it to allow us to do things like that.”

Apart from the land occupied by JCC, experts had previously mentioned a 12ha land parcel along Yuan Ching Road, previously occupied by the now-defunct Tang Dynasty City theme park, as a possible site.

But the URA said there was no other alternative site that was considered. The chosen site was suitable because of its size and proximity — to both the Jurong East MRT Station and the Jurong Gateway commercial hub. Mr Ng said the location of the terminus will complement existing plans to develop the Jurong Lake District into a second Central Business District.

By 2030, Jurong East will be served by four MRT lines — the existing North-South and East-West lines, and the new Jurong Region and Cross Island lines.

The distance between the planned terminus and Jurong East MRT Station is about 600m. To facilitate access, there will be multi-level passageways from the terminus to the surrounding developments, including the MRT station.

Last Tuesday, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and his Malaysian counterpart Najib Razak said after an annual retreat that the high-speed rail project would not be completed by its original target of 2020. Details such as financing, and contingency plans will have to be worked out. A new timeline will be announced by the end of this year.

Once the JCC vacates the land, the authorities will start to prepare the site for construction, including conducting site surveys and soil investigation.

Civil engineering experts told TODAY that the soil at the site is likely to be soft, given the proximity to Jurong Lake. The soil has to be strengthened and this could be both time consuming and costly.

On when construction would start, LTA chief executive Chew Men Leong said it was too early to say.

The LTA will be carrying out a detailed engineering study to finalise the terminus’ layout, design and alignment, while the URA will start work on a master plan on the terminus and the surrounding area. In the meantime, the road network in the area will be expanded.

Mr Ng said: “We’ll have to see how it can complement what we’re already planning for the Jurong Lake Gardens and the new Science Centre ... We have talked about the need to plug into the MRT lines so that you get connected to the rest of Singapore.”

He added: “Around the area, we need to think about how we can better link it to things such as park connectors, walking trails and even road networks ... How the area will evolve and shape up depends on the need of the community and the market at that point.”

 

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