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Ex-columbarium site in Fernvale to be re-tendered for Chinese temple

SINGAPORE — A Sengkang site that was the subject of controversy following plans by a company to build a commercial columbarium there will open for re-tender soon, after the Ministry of National Development (MND) terminated the original tender awarded in July last year.

HDB development at Fernvale Link, the site of where a columbarium was proposed to be built. TODAY file photo

HDB development at Fernvale Link, the site of where a columbarium was proposed to be built. TODAY file photo

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SINGAPORE — A Sengkang site that was the subject of controversy following plans by a company to build a commercial columbarium there will open for re-tender soon, after the Ministry of National Development (MND) terminated the original tender awarded in July last year.

In a press release today (May 7), the MND said the new tender would restore the original planning intent of a Chinese temple. The ministry has also signed a termination agreement with Eternal Pure Land. Under the agreement, the Government will refund the company the full land premium of about S$5.2 million, as well as the associated taxes and duties that it paid for the site.

“This is only fair as the contract of the Fernvale Link site has been terminated. There is no other separate payment,” the MND said.

As part of the agreement, the company will be sold a 0.1ha site along Tampines Road, north of Paya Lebar Airbase, to pilot the development of an automated columbarium system. The plot will be priced at market value based on columbarium use as determined by the chief valuer, the ministry added. The MND said this site is on land zoned for cemetery use in the Urban Redevelopment Authority’s (URA) Master Plan 2014, and is “away from the heartlands”.

The ministry added that URA had assessed the project proposal and felt that it had the potential to “enhance land use efficiency and minimise disamenity to surrounding users”.

Life Corporation, which is listed on the Australian Securities Exchange, is the parent company of Eternal Pure Land. Life Corporation chairman Kong Kam Yu said he was pleased that a mutually acceptable agreement was reached with the Government, and the discussions were held in a professional manner.

Mr Kong said the pilot project was a “good opportunity” for Life Corporation to further bereavement care services in Singapore, in addition to its business as a funeral services provider. The details of the project will be announced later by the company.

The MND said that Eternal Pure Land understood its bid was “not congruous with the planning intent”. The ministry stressed that the Government’s intent has always been for the Fernvale Link site to be awarded to a religious organisation or its affiliate for the development of a Chinese temple, and Eternal Pure Land’s bid was not in line with the plan for the site.

Late last year, would-be residents of the Fernvale Lea Build-to-Order (BTO) project had expressed dismay over news that a columbarium would be built near their new homes. Some said the possibility of a columbarium at the site of the temple should have been stated up front, and not only in fine print in the BTO development’s brochure.

Current and would-be residents around Fernvale Link, where the proposed temple’s site is, started an online petition to stop the development, which was slated for completion by next year.

Following the outcry, National Development Minister Khaw Boon Wan told Parliament in January that the commercial columbarium would not be built in Fernvale Link. He said that it was the first case of a company without religious affiliations winning a tender for land slated for places of worship. Mr Khaw attributed the misstep to wrong assumptions made by officers assessing the bids.

A would-be Fernvale Lea resident, who wanted to be known only as Ms Chan, welcomed the termination of the tender. “We knew when we bid for the BTO (flat) that a temple would be built. If we had known a columbarium would be part of it, we would have thought twice,” said the 27-year-old.

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