Golf facing dual threat of tenure uncertainty and falling interest

GOLFERS in Singapore can be forgiven for feeling that their sport is under siege. If anything, the Singapore Land Authority's (SLA) shock announcement this week that it was acquiring the Raffles Country Club (RCC) property in Tuas has simply added to this sense of uncertainty.

On Wednesday morning, the SLA gazetted the acquisition of the 146 ha site occupied by the club along Jalan Ahmad Ibrahim to house facilities for the Kuala Lumpur-Singapore High Speed Rail (HSR), the Cross Island Line's (CRL) western depot and other transport related needs. The Land Transport Authority of Singapore and SLA emphasised that the RCC site is found to be the most suitable location to run at-grade HSR tracks immediately after the bridge crossing, and to place the tunnel portal leading to the underground tunnels that would take the HSR to the Jurong East terminus. The site will also be used for required HSR crossover tracks and a HSR siding facility to temporarily house a train near the border for safety or operational reasons, if necessary.

This comes over a year after the government announced the acquisition of the 67ha 18-hole Jurong Country Club (JCC) site just down the road from RCC.