SINGAPORE: The Singapore government has agreed to swap land parcels at Holland Road with Johor’s regent Tunku Ismail Sultan Ibrahim, the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) and the Singapore Land Authority (SLA) said on Tuesday (Jun 10).

Tunku Ismail, who is also Crown Prince of Johor, currently owns 21.1 ha of land at Holland Road. The Johor regent “plans to develop his land”, which has been under the private ownership of the Johor royal family for generations, the authorities said in a joint media release.

The land swap is so that the regent's "planned developments will be further away from the Singapore Botanic Gardens UNESCO World Heritage Site”, the press release said.

The 166-year-old Singapore Botanic Gardens is Singapore’s first World Heritage Site under the United Nations body, after being awarded the coveted status in 2015.

Under the land swap, the Johor regent will transfer part of his land – a 13 ha parcel bordered by Tyersall Avenue to its east and sitting beside the Botanic Gardens – to the Singapore government. 

In exchange, the Singapore government will transfer 8.5 ha of state land to the Johor regent. This piece is located to the west of the land privately owned by the Johor regent.

“The land parcels to be swapped are of comparable value,” the authorities said.

The remaining 8.1 ha of land in between will remain under the regent’s private ownership.

The Singapore government noted that it will keep the 13 ha of land to be transferred from the Johor regent as “undeveloped for now, while keeping open our future plans for the area”.

This plot is currently labelled on URA's website as "open space".

On the website, the other two plots - the 8.5 ha to be transferred to the regent, as well as the 8.1 ha remaining under him - are currently zoned as “special use” sites, indicating areas used or intended for special purposes.

Authorities said the Johor regent “may develop his land after the swap, which is suitable for low-rise and low-density residential uses”.

Any development plans will be subject to due process, they added, noting that URA and its agencies will assess such applications to ensure the proposed development is “sensitive to the surrounding site context”.

The development will also be subject to environmental studies before works commence.

A 2021 Bloomberg report said the Johor regent had plans to develop a “multibillion-dollar luxury residential project” on his family's plot of land in Singapore, which lies in Tyersall Park and includes the ruins of Istana Woodneuk.

Istana Woodneuk, along with the torn-down Istana Tyersall, served as the palaces of Johor’s former Temenggong Abu Bakar Daeng Ibrahim in the late 19th century.

The Bloomberg report, citing sources, said Tunku Ismail was seeking permission to develop the land into a “cluster of high-end homes”.

CNA has reached out to SLA and URA for more information.