THE Arbitral Tribunal has ruled that development charges on three former Malayan Railway (KTM) sites in Singapore in Tanjong Pagar, Kranji and Woodlands will not be payable.

On Thursday, the Permanent Court of Arbitration at The Hague ruled that M+S Pte Ltd would not be liable to pay development charges on the three parcels if they "had been vested in M+S Pte Ltd and if M+S Pte Ltd had actually developed the lands in accordance with the proposed land uses set out in the Annexes to the POA (Points of Agreement)''.

M+S is the joint venture company in which Malaysia's sovereign wealth fund Khazanah Nasional has a 60 per cent stake, and Singapore's Temasek Holdings, a 40 per cent one.