Minimum Reserve Price for Government Land Sales Programme

Mr Gan Thiam Poh asked the Minister for National Development whether the Ministry will review the need to have a minimum reserve price for public tenders of residential land on the Reserve List under the Government Land Sales Programme.

Mr Khaw Boon Wan: Under the Reserve List system, a site is released for public tender under the Government Land Sales Programme when a developer submits a bid price that is deemed to be acceptable to the Government. The assessment is made by the Chief Valuer independently and objectively based on the prevailing market conditions and established valuation principles. The accepted price then forms the Reserve Price for the tender and it is published.

It is necessary to set a Reserve Price as it is the Government's duty as custodian of State land to obtain a fair market value for its land.

In practice, the Reserve Price is not applied rigidly. In the past, some sites on the Reserve List have been triggered for sale at bids below the Reserve Price, but not automatically.

The Reserve Price system has worked well and does not deter developers from triggering sites for sale from the Reserve List. For instance, since January this year, five residential sites have been successfully triggered for sale from the Reserve List.

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