12 hectare of land will be sitting idle in Jurong following Malaysia’s announcement that the Kuala Lumpur-Singapore High Speed Rail (HSR) will be scrapped. Advertised by the Singapore government as the “second Central Business District (CBD)” and HSR terminal station, the humongous parcel of land acquired from a country club would now be in limbo as the Singapore government remains at a loss of what to do. Also affected is the multi-billion Tuas Mega Port, which Lee Hsien Loong screwed up by removing Tanjong Pagar Terminal in 2017.
The Singapore authorities went into hiding after the announcement, and did not release any statements on their town plan on Jurong. The government Facebook page for Jurong Lake District stopped posting in early May, and marketing efforts have been put on hold.
Described as a “big hole” by state media TodayOnline today (May 31), various stakeholders in Jurong told state media reporters they now feel cheated by the Singapore government. Without the HSR terminal station, building a CBD in Jurong would drastically affect human traffic as the majority of the population resides in the East, near the airport. Also, the multi-billion Tuas Mega Port is also now affected as the port would be too far away from it’s previous site in Tanjong Pagar. The Singapore government moved ahead of schedule to remove the Port of Singapore (PSA) Tanjong Pagar Terminal in 2017, in preparation for the Tuas Mega Port.
Several property agents said that the land would be left vacated for at least a few years, while the Singapore government wait for Malaysia to “re-visit” their decision.