JURONG INDUSTRIAL SITES

Mr David Marshall asked the Minister for Finance whether any private industrial organisation has leased or purchased any part of the Jurong industrial sites developed at public expense.

Dr Goh Keng Swee: The answer is no. The land in Jurong is still under development and is not quite ready for alienation to private industrial organizations. The earthwork of levelling hills and reclaiming swamp lands are still under way and the work is being carried out as rapidly as possible. As such, the Economic Development Board would be in a position before very long to consider allocation of the Jurong Industrial Area to those industrialists who have applied. 38 applications for land and sites at Jurong covering a total area of 192 acres have been received by the Board. The applications are for various industries wishing to establish business in Jurong and they include the following: - Industries Number of Area Applications Required Acres Acid manufacturing 2 19 Boatbuilding, shipbuilding 4 16 Beverages 1 1 Brewing 1 20 Clay Products 1 5 Chemical 2 13 Chemical Feeds 2 7 Coconut fibre products 1 1 Electrical goods 1 2 Engineering works 1 2 Fertilisers 1 2 Food processing and manufacture 2 5 Fuel distributing 3 9 Industrial gases 1 15 Iron and steel works 1 10 Metal products 2 8 Service installations 2 3 Cinema studio 1 10 Shipbreaking and repairing 6 27 Veneer and plywood 1 7 Wood products 2 10 -- --- Total 38 192 -- ---

So far, only one industrial organisation, namely, a shipbreaking yard, has been granted a temporary occupation licence for a site at the Jurong industrial area and shipbreaking is being carried on there. The steel mill has had a site of about 30 acres reserved and earthworks are almost complete. Construction will begin on the buildings that will house the steel mill next month or early in August.

Mr David Marshall: Would the Minister indicate whether the terms of alienation have now been agreed upon by the Board and made known to industrialists who may seek to establish industries in the Jurong area?

Dr Goh Keng Swee: These are at present under discussion between the Board and my Ministry. There are many details to be resolved, but I think the most important one is this: that we should not allow any part of Jurong to be bought under some pretence of establishing manufacturing industries with the real purpose of speculating on almost certain increased land values in Jurong. There are several ways of ensuring that this objective could be achieved. The reason is that at least in the first phase in the development of Jurong, we intend to lease out these industrial sites for fairly long terms and at the lowest possible cost, that is to say, the cost of development to the Government plus any other overheads; certainly not to make any profit on it. Therefore, it is necessary to secure a safeguard against private enterprise taking advantage of these very advantageous terms to cash in on possible profit in land speculation.