SINGAPORE: A news report announcing the merger of Singapore’s two cruise centres is wide of the mark, said the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) and Singapore Tourism Board (STB).
The joint clarification, sent to the media on Monday (May 13) night, was in response to a Straits Times article published earlier in the day titled “S’pore’s cruise facilities to be consolidated, freeing up space along Greater Southern Waterfront”.
The article, drawn from an interview with URA chief executive Lim Eng Hwee, stated that Singapore’s two cruise centres would be merged in the “coming years”, with the Singapore Cruise Centre, located at HarbourFront, set to move.
The purpose of this, according to article, would be to create a continuous promenade as the government “stitch(es) up the entire waterfront” – stretching from Labrador Park to the future Long Island.
In its email on Monday night, URA and STB clarified that the headline of the article referred to “the longer-term consolidation of cruise infrastructure in Singapore, which is currently under study”.
“There are currently no plans to merge the operations of Singapore Cruise Centre with Marina Bay Cruise Centre Singapore,” said the two government bodies.
URA’s Mr Lim, according to the article, had said that plans to merge the cruise terminals are an example of infrastructure consolidation, which the government has used in recent years to free up land for other purposes.
“With the port moving, there’s a lot of infrastructural work that needs to be done – some reclamation, and the cruise hub will be formed as part of that,” Mr Lim was quoted as saying.
“And when all the infrastructure is done, we will progressively build up the area.”
CNA has reached out to URA for comment.
