6,000 HDB flats to be built on Keppel Club site

Around 6,000 Housing Board flats will be built on the Keppel Club site in the Greater Southern Waterfront, with the first Build-To-Order (BTO) project to be launched within three years.

These units are part of the 9,000 homes slated for the 48ha site, which will offer unique waterfront living that is close to nature, said National Development Minister Desmond Lee yesterday.

The remaining 3,000 units are expected to consist of private housing.

A mix of public and private housing developments will be scheduled for launch in the next three to five years. HDB will decide on whether the flats will fall under the prime location public housing (PLH) model. Such flats are in areas with high market value and come with stricter buying and selling conditions.

The 48ha site - about half the size of Bidadari estate - comes under the mature town of Bukit Merah and is bounded by Telok Blangah Road, Berlayer Creek and Bukit Chermin.

Mr Lee said: "Given its central location and the two MRT stations nearby, we will seek to keep the estate car-lite and enable residents to get around easily by walking or cycling."

Future residents will be served by Labrador Park and Telok Blangah MRT stations on the Circle Line, which will be connected to the estate via walking trails.

Within the site, close to 10ha - about 20 per cent of the site area and the size of about 18 football fields - will be set aside as parks and open land. This includes four green corridors that will run through the estate and serve as recreational spaces.

Mr Lee said the plans are guided by recommendations from an environmental impact study (EIS) and feedback from nature groups. These may be fine-tuned after public consultation on the EIS report.

Housing blocks will be designed with staggered building heights, to give residents a view of the greenery at their doorstep, HDB said. They will also feature skyrise greenery and landscaped terraces.

Green roofs on lower-rise blocks will serve as additional habitats for butterflies and smaller urban bird species like the locally endangered blue-crowned hanging parrot and oriental magpie-robin.

"As the site is quite close to the city centre, we will bring homes closer to jobs. This is part of our effort to move towards having more housing options and mixed-use development in our central region," said Mr Lee.

All development works will be confined within the brownfield site of Keppel Club, he added. Brownfield sites had previous developments on them.

The Singapore Land Authority said the lease for the existing golf course site expires on June 30. Keppel Club has until March 31 next year to demolish its clubhouse and reinstate the site.

On whether the BTO projects at the Keppel Club site will fall under the PLH model, HDB said the model will be applied to selected public housing projects in prime and central locations such as the city centre and surrounding areas, including the Greater Southern Waterfront.

While the site is within the Greater Southern Waterfront, HDB said it will consider factors like the project's location, attributes and market value, before deciding whether to apply the PLH model.

Property analysts said it is likely BTO projects in the waterfront area will fall under the PLH model.

PropNex Realty's head of research and content Wong Siew Ying said: "Given the attractive site attributes, we would consider the future flats on the Keppel Club site to be in the 'limited edition' category, and all the new HDB flats offered there should come under the PLH model because of their extremely prime location."

Huttons Asia's senior director of research Lee Sze Teck noted that two-thirds of the units are public housing, allowing more Singaporeans to live by the coast.