S'pore religious organisations can now ballot instead of tender for land: MND

Lease renewal premiums will also be in line with the new pricing framework.

Daniel Seow | May 29, 2023, 10:23 AM

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Religious organisations in Singapore can now ballot for land set aside as places of worship and pay for it at pre-determined prices that reflect its fair market value, according to a revised framework announced by the Ministry of National Development (MND).

This was announced in a May 28 speech at the Singapore Buddhist Federation by Edwin Tong, who is Minister for Culture, Community and Youth and Second Minister for Law.

Rising land prices are a concern

These changes to the existing land allocation and pricing framework are a result of consultations between the government and religious groups, who have raised common concerns about the rising prices of place of worship land.

In a previous response to a Parliamentary Question by Member of Parliament Sylvia Lim in October 2022, Minister of Law K Shanmugam noted that this rise in place of worship land prices was because of competitive bidding by religious organisations.

This does not include land for mosques, which the government directly alienates to the Islamic Religious Council of Singapore (MUIS) at market price set by the chief valuer.

Mosque development is centrally coordinated by MUIS.

MND noted that the rising land prices have been a source of worry for these religious organisations, and could divert them to expend more efforts on fund-raising, rather than focus on their original purpose of serving the community.

Ballot system

As such, PW land will now be allocated to religious organisations through a ballot system, instead of a competitive tender.

To qualify for this ballot, religious organisations must demonstrate that they have organised regular activities that benefited the community, and have a genuine need for worship space, among other conditions.

These pre-qualifying criteria were implemented in a review of the land tender framework in 2018, and remain unchanged.

Qualifying religious organisation will each be given a one ballot chance by default, with one additional ballot chance for each unsuccessful attempt at obtaining place of worship land via the tender or ballot process in the past five years.

This will be capped at a total of four ballot chances.

Religious organisations that have obtained a new site in the past five years, or have renewed their lease, tenancy agreements or temporary occupation licence in the past two years, will not be allowed to participate in the ballot, as part of a cooling-off period.

The conditions for the cooling-off period will be applied prospectively from May 28, 2023.

New pricing framework

The religious organisation that wins the ballot for the site will pay a pre-determined price, which is determined upfront by the chief valuer using established valuation principles and based on his professional judgment.

For example, site-specific factors, which include location, land area, gross floor area, and allowable use will be taken into account, as well as year-on-year inflationary adjustments.

The chief valuer operates independently from the government, and will take reference from the valuation of directly alienated place of worship land that has not been influenced by tender, to set the new pricing.

MND stated that this will reflect the fair market value of the site, and is expected to be lower than the prevailing prices.

Previously, land prices were determined by the highest bid price submitted for the site by a qualifying religious organisation.

With this new framework, MND hopes to level the playing field and provide all religious organisations with a chance of obtaining place of worship land.

Additionally, this will benefit religious organisations set to renew their lease, as their lease renewal premiums will be brought in line with the new pricing framework.

This would include the some 20 places of worship that since 2018, opted for short-term tenancies or temporary occupation licences instead of renewing their leases for 30 years, as they awaited the results of the most recent land pricing review, according to The Straits Times.

Religious organisations will not be subject to the ballot system for the renewal of leases.

Supply of PW sites to be announced

MND stated that they plan to release new place of worship land later in 2023.

This will be informed by the Urban Redevelopment Authority's Master Plan, which guides Singapore's land development for the next 10 to 15 years, and balances supply for competing land uses.

Place of worship land, for instance, is planned as part of residential estates to meet the religious needs of Singaporeans.

Details about the upcoming launches under the revised framework will be announced when ready.

More details on the pricing will also be shared closer to the announcement of tenders under the fixed price ballot system in the third quarter of this year.

Top image from Raymond Lai/ Renato Cento on Google.