Thursday, April 5, 2007

Little India site open to hospitals

The Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) has decided to open up a vacant plot in Little India to hospital development, after no takers came forward to develop it for its original purpose.

The 1.36ha site above Farrer Park MRT station at the junction of Rangoon Road and Race Course Road was first offered as a ‘white’ site in August last year. This means developers could build homes, shops, offices or hotels there.

But no developer expressed an interest.

Yesterday, the URA said it would extend the site’s permitted uses to hospitals, ‘in line with increased interest in hospital development’, though 40 per cent of the site’s total floor area must still be given over to a hotel.

The agency said the plot is suitable for a hospital as ‘it is compatible with the surrounding land uses’.

Further down Race Course Road is Kwong Wai Shiu Hospital and Nursing Home.

The land parcel on offer can be built up to a total floor area of about 616,000 sq ft.

It is on the URA’s reserve list, which means that interested developers have to submit a bid that meets the authority’s reserve price before the plot can be launched for public tender.

Source: The Straits Times, 05 April 2007

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