New framework limits bidding for place of worship lands to religious groups

Lands that can be developed as PW hubs will also be released for the first time.

Bidding for Place of Worship (PW) lands will only be allowed for religious groups through the changes made in the tender framework of said lands, the Ministry of National Development said.

Under the new framework, tenderers will have to go through two stages which start by an assessment on a set of pre-qualification criteria.

“Only those who meet the pre-qualification criteria of this first stage will proceed to the second stage, where the site is awarded to the qualified tenderer with the highest bid price,” MND explained.

Following the changes, MND said that at least two church and two Chinese temple sites shall be released every year in the next few years to provide greater certainty to aid planning by religious organisations. Consequently, more PW land supply will be released compared to when sites were put out intermittently.

The ministry assured that the government will continue to monitor the trend in PW land tenders so they can adjust the supply of PW land, as necessary.

Moreover, MND will be releasing land for the development of PW hubs for the first time. These hubs can house multiple religious organisations belonging to the same religion, in a multi-storey development.

“Through co-location and sharing of facilities such as car parks, Singapore’s limited land resources will be better optimised,” MND said. “Smaller religious organisations who find the standard PW sites too large for their use can band together under one PW hub.”

In view of this, MND will release sites for one church hub and one Chinese temple hub via Concept-and-Price tenders, and religious organisations can jointly apply to develop and manage these PW hubs.

“The changes are being made to ensure that only religious groups that actively contribute to the community, and have a genuine need for worship space can bid for PW land,” the ministry said.

Tenderers must be able to prove that they have adequate and sustainable local funding to finance the purchase and development of the PW site, and that they will not use foreign donations for the transaction, MND said.