Parking Space Shortage in the Central Business District

Mr Liang Eng Hwa asked the Minister for Transport (a) how the Ministry intends to ease the parking shortage situation in the Central Business District; (b) whether the car park shortage in the financial district has impacted our attractiveness to draw global institutions to plant their regional HQ in Singapore; and (c) whether the ratio of car park lots to office space should be reviewed.

Mr Lui Tuck Yew: The Land Transport Authority (LTA) sets a minimum parking requirement for each building according to its type of use and Gross Floor Area (GFA). Developers can decide whether to use their GFA to provide parking spaces over and above the minimum requirements. In other words, there is no cap on parking provision. In deciding the additional parking lots to be provided, developers will have to balance the use of their building space in order to maximise their returns and to meet the parking needs of their tenants and customers. Parking charges are also left to the market, as building owners decide on the appropriate pricing in response to demand for parking spaces.

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LTA monitors the parking situation through regular parking occupancy surveys. A survey conducted this year for many of the office buildings along the Shenton Way and Raffles Place area showed that there are sufficient parking spaces with an average utilisation of about 70% during peak periods. However, there may be a perception of parking shortage as parking demand is not evenly distributed. The car parks in some buildings are more attractive to motorists due to their location and/or parking charges.

LTA has recently conducted a review of the parking situation in the CBD and will retain the current parking standards.

Going forward, as we implement more MRT lines to encourage travel to the city centre by public transport, the need to drive to the CBD, and hence the demand for parking, should decline further over time.

This trend is consistent with other cities, such as Hong Kong, London and Tokyo, where public transport is the dominant and sustainable mode of travel to their CBDs. These cities have thrived as major financial centres, and are ranked well in terms of economic competitiveness.