The government has announced that it is extending the Central Business District Incentive (CBDI) and Strategic Development Incentive (SDI) schemes for another five years. The CBDI and SDI schemes were introduced by the government in November 2019. The latest decision was unveiled by Desmond Lee, Minister of National Development (MND) at the Real Estate Developers’ Association of Singapore (Redas) annual Spring Festival lunch on Feb 7.

The CBDI scheme was rolled out to encourage the conversion of existing older office buildings in certain areas of the Central Business District (CBD) into mixed-use developments. These areas consist of Anson Road, Cecil Street, Tanjong Pagar, Robinson Road, and Shenton Way. The scheme is intended to inject more homes, bolster the live-in population in the CBD, and introduce a greater mix of uses in the traditionally commercial-centric district.

Meanwhile, the SDI was introduced to encourage the redevelopment of older developments in strategic areas to bolster transformative changes within surrounding urban environments.

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According to URA, 14 of the 17 CBDI proposals and seven of the 12 SDI proposals submitted to the government have been granted in-principal approval.

Four CBDI projects in the Anson-Tanjong Pagar area are under construction. They include Newport Plaza, a mixed-use development on 80 Anson Road, which comprises the 246-unit Newport Residences as well as 197 serviced apartment units. The Skywaters Residences comprises 190 luxury residential units as part of a larger mixed-use development on 8 Shenton Way. Other CBD projects include two commercial developments at 15 Hoe Chiang Road and 51 Anson Road.

However, Minister Lee says the five-year extension of the CBDI and SDI will come with refinements to both schemes.

Unde the CBDI scheme, developers and property owners who submit CBDI proposals for commercial developments will have the option to retain their commercial zoning (with 40% non-commercial use) if the redevelopment includes long-stay serviced apartment units. This option, which was previously limited to Tanjong Pagar, Robinson Road, and Shenton Way areas, has been extended to commercial developments in the Anson Road and Cecil Street area.

According to URA, CBDI applicants in Anson Road and Cecil Street can redevelop without meeting the requirement of long-stay serviced apartments, if they opt for the following land uses: “Residential with Commercial at 1st storey”, “Commercial & Residential” and “Hotel”. They only need to allocate space for long-stay serviced apartments if they intend to build a development with “commercial (with 40% non-commercial)” uses.

“By enabling the continual renewal of the many ageing buildings in the city centre, and with the injection of more residential units, these incentives aim to make the CBD a place to work, live and play,” says Marcus Chu, CEO of ERA Singapore.

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In addition, the revamped CBDI and SDI schemes will include new sustainability requirements, and all new CDBI and SDI applications going forward must include a sustainability statement that assesses the feasibility of retrofitting part, or all, of the existing building.

“While we support revitalisation and rejuvenation through redevelopment, what we do not want is wasteful demolition and excessive rebuilding, especially if the buildings are relatively young or still in good shape,” says Lee.

He adds that several projects being redeveloped under the CBDI or SDI schemes already exceed the mandated sustainability requirements. For example, Union Square, a mixed-use development at Havelock Road, incorporates a district cooling system.

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