Together with stakeholders, we enhanced and organised a popular pedestrian mall to make it an even more pleasant place to visit.
Haphazard stall setups and random boxes obstructing the pathways and fire engine access were a common sight at Waterloo Mall. The congregation of street vendors in close proximity also posed public health and safety concerns in view of the COVID-19 pandemic.
In an inter-agency effort between URA, Singapore Land Authority and Singapore Food Agency, all existing street vendors were each allocated a lot under a street enhancement exercise conducted from December 2020 to January 2021.
Today, street vendors ply their trades at designated lots that are spaced out along the street, which prevents overcrowding, opens up more walking space and provides visitors a safer and more pleasant street experience.
During unprecedented times, we stepped up to work with various stakeholders to ensure higher standards of safety and well-being for all.
The Space Out website was launched in April 2020 prior to the start of Singapore’s Circuit Breaker period.
Different layers of Space Out provide the public with crowd-level information
As part of the government’s efforts to ensure that businesses, operators and members of the public adhered to Safe Management Measures (SMMs), URA together with partner agencies sent our Safe Distancing Ambassadors and Enforcement Officers to undertake regular patrols in designated areas.
They advised businesses such as food and beverage outlets, retail outlets and backpacker hostels on the SMMs to adhere to at their premises, and took enforcement action when egregious breaches were found.
At the onset of COVID-19, URA rallied to support national efforts in containing and stabilising the pandemic. Working closely with multiple agencies and industry partners, we expedited the identification of vacant sites and suitable premises for temporary and permanent foreign worker dormitories, as well as properties and sites for Government Quarantine Facilities.
Given the urgency of the situation, we also took on the task of retrofitting temporary foreign worker housing at a few locations. Beyond expediting processes, URA leveraged digital technology and developed new platforms to enhance inter-agency collaboration to monitor the roll-out of dormitories and evaluate new proposals.
URA also worked together with other agencies to engage the Singapore Institute of Architects and Dormitory Association of Singapore Limited on ways to improve future dormitories’ design, for better liveability and public health resilience.
A well-ventilated classroom converted into worker quarters
To encourage safe distancing among the public while they enjoy our public spaces, we designed graphical stickers and cut-outs of otters to provide a vibrant and friendly reminder for the public to adhere to SMMs.
From October 2020 to March 2021, the pilot pop-up installation not only helped to encourage safe distancing, but also brought much visual delight to the boardwalk at Marina Bay Waterfront Promenade.
The COVID-19 pandemic reinforced the importance of placemaking in Singapore. We continued to work closely with the pilot Business Improvement Districts (BIDs) to support their efforts in enhancing the precincts, and helped facilitate initiatives that they came up with to overcome challenges arising from COVID-19.
On 9 August 2020, stakeholders from the Discover Tanjong Pagar pilot BID, together with residents, business owners and management staff from URA, came together to form a socially-distanced heart to pay tribute to frontline workers of the COVID-19 pandemic © Discover Tanjong Pagar
With the tightening of SMMs in April 2020, more people had turned to takeaway and delivery services for food, groceries and other essential goods as they stayed home. To facilitate these activities, URA, together with Housing & Development Board, extended the grace period at our public EPS car parks from 10 minutes to 20 minutes.
This provided more time for motorists to temporarily park their vehicles, especially for those providing delivery services.
To help the private bus industry that had been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, the government rolled out several measures last year. Private bus season parking holders at all government-owned car parks were given a six-month waiver of season parking fees from 1 May to 31 October.
The waiver had been further extended as the industry continued to be affected by the lack of tourism business.
To support the real estate sector affected by construction delays due to COVID-19, several temporary relief measures were rolled out. These include the extension of the project completion period for residential, commercial and industrial projects, as well as the time extension for residential development projects in relation to the remission of the Additional Buyer’s Stamp Duty.
In addition, Part 2 of the COVID-19 (Temporary Measures) Act, which looks at relief from legal action in relation to the inability to perform certain contracts as a result of COVID-19, was extended to cover Option to Purchase (OTP) and Sale and Purchase (S&P) Agreements, providing temporary relief to both developers and purchasers affected by the situation.
To encourage purchasers to exercise financial prudence when buying properties amidst economic and labour market uncertainties, the government imposed new conditions in the sale licenses issued to housing developers, to restrict the re-issuance of OTP. Together with the relief measures, this helped to promote stability in the property market.
In partnership with the industry, we continued studying and developing measures to improve public infrastructure.
We worked with industry stakeholders and partner agencies to pilot Kerbside Loading Bays. Launched in April 2020, it aimed to reduce illegal parking and traffic disamenities in commercial areas that lacked designated loading facilities.
As part of this pilot, kerbside parking lots located along Stanley Street, Amoy Street, Arab Street and Ann Siang Road were converted into paid Kerbside Loading Bays. The pilot ended with four Kerbside Loading Bays becoming a permanent feature of those locations and this new scheme to be introduced to appropriate areas.
This is in addition to a Loading Bay Design and Operation Guide that we published in July 2020, to facilitate safer and more efficient deliveries through better-designed and managed loading bays.