The Singapore terminus for the upcoming high-speed rail (HSR) link to Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia, will be at the site of the current Jurong Country Club (JCC), the Government confirmed on Monday.
The Singapore Land Authority has gazetted the acquisition of the 67ha plot and the club will be expected to hand over the land by November 2016.
With the terminus expected to occupy only about 12 ha – or around 18 per cent – of the total area, the remaining land will be transformed into a mixed-use development comprising offices, hotels, retail and even residences.
This will work in line with plans to transform Jurong East into Singapore’s second Central Business District, with high-speed rail commuters being able to travel to and from KL in just 90 minutes.
While technical studies will be conducted to decide the exact location of the HSR terminus, it will be no further than 600m from the current Jurong East MRT station and connected by linkways, the Government said.
Two upcoming MRT lines, the Jurong Region Line and the Cross Island Line, which will be completed in 2025 and 2030 respectively, will also be within accessible distance of the new terminus.
On May 5, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong revealed that the Singapore terminus for the HSR link to Kuala Lumpur will be in the Jurong Lake District in Jurong East. Details of the site however were not provided then.
While the HSR was initially targeted for completion in 2020, both Mr Lee and Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak have said this timeline may need to be re-assessed, given the scale and complexity of the project.
Source: www.straitstimes.com
