Friday, April 15, 2011

Jobs closer to home, more housing near MRT stations

SINGAPOREANS can expect 'more than 10,000 dwelling units in vacant land around MRT stations such as Commonwealth, Queenstown and Bishan,' said Minister for National Development Mah Bow Tan on Thursday.

This can take place in the next decade and beyond, and are higher-rise housing of more than 30 storeys. He was speaking at the URA Corporate Plan Seminar on Thursday, at the Grand Copthorne Waterfront Hotel.

The Minister mentioned in his speech that '2011 will be the year of the Concept Plan,' under a 'new phase of planning for Singapore's physical transformation.'

Mr Mah said the URA (Urban Redevelopment Authority) has decided on a 6.5 million population figure as a planning assumption for the concept plan, though this figure, he added, is not a population target.

Another important issue addressed during the Minister's speech was the plan to bring jobs closer to homes. This will be achieved by building more housing in the Central and West regions, where there are proportionately more jobs than homes. More commercial and industrial activities will also be planned for the North and North-East, where there are currently more homes than jobs.

This redistribution of housing and jobs will hopefully ease peak hour traffic flowing in the North-South direction towards the city, said the Minister.

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