SINGAPORE LAND AUTHORITY

Mdm Cynthia Phua asked the Minister for Law why does Singapore Land Authority need to appoint other Government agencies, such as Urban Redevelopment Authority, Housing and Development Board and Land Transport Authority, to sell state land when it is capable of undertaking such a sale itself.

Prof. S. Jayakumar: Although SLA was formed as a statutory board in June 2001, we have decided to continue with the prevailing practice of appointing other agencies to sell State land. There are good reasons for this practice. For example, URA which has expertise in urban redevelopment has been appointed to sell land linked to planning and redevelopment objectives since the 1960s. Similarly, since 1989, HDB has been appointed the agent to sell land within public housing estates. STB has been our agent for tourism-related projects since 1988.

As this practice has worked well for many years, we do not intend to discontinue it. Nonetheless, as with all Government policies, we will review it and, where necessary, make changes and improvements. For example, LTA was appointed recently for a site integrated with transport infrastructure and SLA has also been appointed as land sales agent for another site.