History not on batched tender's side
As in the 90s, they don't ease land prices, but may still be useful
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Kalpana Rashiwala
[SINGAPORE] THERE has been much talk of late about batched tenders - the simultaneous closing of state land tenders for more than one site - and how they don't seem to be having the desired effect of moderating land bids for private housing development sites.
The system of closing tenders for more than one site at the same time is hardly new. It used to be pretty much the norm back in the 1990s. The Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) used to conclude tenders for, say, three, four, and even up to nine, sites at one go.
Sometimes, all the sites offered were for private housing development, of which a pair may be adjacent land parcels. At other times, a hodge podge of sites were tendered: residential, commercial and hotel.
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