The Singapore Land Authority (SLA) and Sport Singapore (SportSG) announced in a joint statement yesterday that they have launched a tender for the state property at 102 Ulu Pandan Road.

The property will be used to meet sports and recreational needs of residents in the area, as well as the public.

This is the first collaborative effort by the two agencies for a joint tender to convert state property for sports use.

With a land area of 44,643 sq m, the site was originally part of the former Ulu Pandan camp. It was last tenanted to Garden City Management for hostel use from February 2017 to November last year.

In the statement, it was announced that SLA has parcelled the site into two facilities - one for hostel use and another for sports use, with dedicated road access for each.

While the sport facility site is now open for tender, SLA will launch the site for hostel use later this year. This joint tender also serves as a pilot to assess the response and launch of additional state property sites for future sports use, said the statement.

Rajesh Mulani, who runs indoor football facility The Cage at Kallang and Turf City, is keen on the site, especially with the location having a "decent tenure" of up to eight years.

He noted a demand for sheltered sports spaces here as wet weather often affects outdoor activities.

On opening a facility there, Mulani added: "You must first be able to get your traffic going, and build for the correct sport by looking at the size of the space and defining what sports you want to fit in. There are many variables."

Syed Faruk, managing director of indoor futsal facility Premier Pitch, also expressed that while he is "keen to explore expansion", the Covid-19 pandemic makes for a tricky decision.

He said: "Especially since Covid is still around and contact sports are still restricted... I would need to know more details first."

For the award of the tender, SLA and SportSG will assess tenderers based on "how their proposals can meaningfully transform and activate the space for social integration and community bonding through sport".

The price-quality tender will allow for more holistic assessment of the bids with 60 per cent of the overall score for the quality of the concept, and 40 per cent for the bid price.

The quality component of the proposed concept will also be used by the two agencies as a key consideration in their assessment.

The period for submission started yesterday and will last till June 2 and the expected date of award for the tender will be on Sept 2.

Recreational futsal player Dominic Ho is excited about the launch of the tender, as this could mean an increase in the availability of facilities for enthusiasts to play football.

The 24-year-old said: "I am very happy to hear about it as it would also encourage more people to start doing regular exercise and keep healthy."