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MND to explore housing places of worship in one location: Khaw

SINGAPORE – A new concept is currently being explored by the Ministry of National Development (MND) where smaller places of worship can be housed in the same multi-storey development.

Yueh Hai Ching Temple at 30B Phillip Street. Photo: URA

Yueh Hai Ching Temple at 30B Phillip Street. Photo: URA

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SINGAPORE – A new concept is currently being explored by the Ministry of National Development (MND) where smaller places of worship can be housed in the same multi-storey development.

In a blogpost on Thursday (Dec 11), National Development Minister Khaw Boon Wan said the ministry is currently exploring the concept of a Multi-User Place of Worship Facility, where smaller groups of the same religion can lease or rent a multi-storey development and share common facilities like car parks and classrooms.

Mr Khaw said that leaders of small churches and temples have pursued the ministry for help on finding “alternative solutions” on unaffordable government land sales that were “too big for their needs”.

“Helpfully, they indicated that they were prepared to co-share facilities and to go high-rise,” he wrote.

Such a facility will likely be located away from residential housing and probably within or at the fringe of industrial areas, MND said. The development should also have a master lessee who will develop and rent or lease out the spaces and oversee the common property within the development.

MND today also announced the launch of a Request For Information (RFI) for interested churches and Chinese temples to provide their views and suggestions on such a development and the management of such a facility. The RFI will open from Thursday (Dec 11) to Feb 27, 2015.

Interested groups are encouraged to register with the HDB by Dec 31 for a briefing on the RFI exercise.

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