Ravi Chandran
Public’s proposals for Pasir Panjang Power District exhibited – Request for Information exercise to be launched
By: Hitesh Khan/
The public will be able to view proposals for the Pasir Panjang Power District from today, in an exhibition that explores the future of the district as the first piece of the Greater Southern Waterfront to be realised within the next five years. As part of the next phase of planning for the district, a Request for Information exercise will also roll out in conjunction with the exhibition, which was opened this morning by Minister for National Development and Second Minister for Finance Lawrence Wong.
The exhibited proposals were submitted for the ideas competition ‘Power-Up Pasir Panjang’, jointly organised last year by the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) and the Singapore Land Authority (SLA), which invited the public, professionals and students to re-imagine the district for the next 15 to 20 years. 79 submissions were received, and several winning proposals were selected for their originality, creativity and sensitivity to the site’s unique context.
“Many high quality entries were submitted for the ideas competition. The creative concepts and proposals will help set the stage for the next phase of planning for the power district, and contribute towards kickstarting the rejuvenation of the Greater Southern Waterfront,” said Chief Executive Officer of URA Lim Eng Hwee.
“We are excited by the creativity and originality in the entries submitted. They gave us a glimpse into the potential to transform the State property at Pasir Panjang Power Station A. We look forward to realising this potential through the transformation of the iconic property into an exciting and attractive destination for all,” said Chief Executive of SLA Tan Boon Khai.
The Request for Information exercise that launched on Jan 13 will build on the results of the ideas competition, and facilitate detailed discussion with developers and possible future users of the power district site. This will help further refine the parameters before the release of the site for development, possibly through a tender next year.
Besides the Pasir Panjang Power District exhibited at The URA Centre atrium, a series of engagements will also be carried out from 18 January 2020 onwards by the National Parks Board on the future Pasir Panjang Park, which will link up the power district to the rest of the Greater Southern Waterfront.
The proposals for Pasir Panjang Power District exhibited at The URA Centre atrium will be on from 13 January 2020 to 7 February 2020.
Speaking at the Pasir Panjang Power District exhibition launch, Mr Lawrence Wong, Minister for National Development, said: “It is fitting that we are starting this new year with this exhibition of public ideas for the Pasir Panjang Power District because this is part of the Greater Southern Waterfront which will be one of our biggest urban transformation projects to take our city to the next level. By 2027, the container terminals at Keppel, Tanjong Pagar and Brani will move out, and we will start developing that section of the Greater Southern Waterfront. But prior to that, the first project in the Greater Southern Waterfront will be the area around Labrador Park.”
“One key parcel is the Pasir Panjang Power District. It is 15ha of prime waterfront land which consists of two disused power station buildings – Power Station ‘A’ and Power Station ‘B’. They used to supply electricity to our industries and city centre back in the 1950s and 60s. They were eventually decommissioned in the mid-1980s and late-1990s, as cleaner and more advanced power stations were built.
In other countries, power stations with their unique structures are often repurposed when they have outlived their original uses. You can see this for example in the Tate Modern art museum in the UK and Powerhouse Brisbane in Australia. Likewise, we will adopt a similar approach here. Redevelopment for Singapore does not mean having to tear down and demolish all our old buildings. Here, we can keep these historical buildings and give the old power stations a new lease of life.
We can already see the potential in some of the events held at the Power District in recent years. We have had music performances, art markets, and streetwear conventions.
The question is – how can we go beyond these short-term events to repurpose these old buildings and transform the Power District? Rather than have URA decide and answer this question, we decided to go for a more collaborative approach in order to get as many Singaporeans involved as possible in shaping the Greater Southern Waterfront. That is why URA and SLA jointly organised the “Power-Up Pasir Panjang!” ideas competition last year. Participants were invited to submit ideas under two topics. The first topic was to come up with a master plan for the rejuvenation of the whole Power District, and the second topic was more targeted to come up with innovative ways to repurpose Power Station ‘A’.”
Pasir Panjang Power District exhibited at The URA Centre atrium received widespread competition interest. URA received nearly 80 submissions from students and professionals coming from different backgrounds, including submissions from overseas such as China and Indonesia, and even countries further afield in Sweden and the UK.
Mr Wong said that the Pasir Panjang Power District exhibited at The URA Centre atrium is just the beginning of a very long journey ahead.
“There is lots more work to be done and many exciting opportunities for us to build our future city. But as the saying goes, a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.”
