SINGAPORE - Industrial land and properties under the Housing & Development Board will be transferred to JTC Corporation in the first quarter of 2018.
This was announced by Minister for Trade & Industry (Trade) Lim Hng Kiang on Wednesday (Oct 19).
Mr Lim said this consolidation of industrial land and properties will better support the growth of SMEs as they only need to approach a single agency.
"JTC will be also be able to better match companies' space needs across the different stages of their growth with a larger supply of industrial land and space, including its innovative facilities," he noted.
The move will also allow the Government to undertake more "holistic and comprehensive master planning of industrial estates across Singapore".
Mr Lim added: "This will enable us to better cluster complementary activities and integrate activities along the value-chain."
Some 10,700 industrial units and 540 industrial land leases under the housing board will be transferred to JTC.
These include the Sin Ming Industrial Estate, Defu Industrial Estate, Kampong Ubi Industrial Estate and factories in Woodlands and Bukit Batok, among others.
HDB's industrial estates are found in the central, and east and north east regions, while JTC's are largely in the west.
Mr Lim was speaking at a signing ceremony where three firms inked tenancy agreements with JTC.
The three companies - Crizto Singapore, Guoxin Manufacturing and Royal Bussan Singapore - will occupy space at JTC Space @ Tampines North, the latest addition to JTC's suite of innovative space for industries.
In a joint statement on Wednesday, JTC and HDB said the affected tenants and lessees from the consolidation of industrial land and properties will continue to be served by the same team of HDB officers - about 160 of them - who will be transferred to JTC.
The two agencies are working closely to ensure a seamless transition, and will engage tenants and lessees over the next two months to understand their needs and address their concerns.
The majority of HDB's customers for industrial space are micro-SMEs, with average annual sales of less than S$1 million. About half of them are in the engineering and consumer products sectors.
