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All stakeholders, including non-employees, affected by Singapore Turf Club redevelopment will receive assistance

The government's announcement to redevelop the Singapore Turf Club site, effectively ending horse racing in Singapore in October 2024, was met with dismay and shock from the industry. 

All stakeholders, including non-employees, affected by Singapore Turf Club redevelopment will receive assistance

Jockeys making their way across the Horse Walk to the race track for a race at the Singapore Turf Club on Jun 11, 2023. (Photo: CNA/Jeremy Long)

SINGAPORE: All stakeholders who are affected by the government’s decision to redevelop the Singapore Turf Club (STC) site – including those who are employed by horse trainers at the club – will be assisted in their transition, said Second Minister for Finance and National Development Indranee Rajah on Monday (Jul 3).

The horse trainers employ or engage about 420 workers. 

“While these are not STC employees, STC will nevertheless lean forward to work with their employers (the trainers) to provide support to these workers and ease their transition,” said Ms Indranee in parliament. 

The club will also extend employment facilitation, skills training and career counselling to these workers. 

“For the tenancies, like the food and beverage and so on, the contractual arrangements with them will be fulfilled. And if there are one or two who may need to be relocated, we will assist with the relocation,” she added. 

“The decision, having been made; what is very important is that all the stakeholders who are affected by the decision need to be assisted with the transition.” 

The government announced in June that the Singapore Turf Club site in Kranji would close its facility by March 2027 and be handed back to the government for redevelopment. Horse racing in Singapore will cease in October 2024.

The news came as a shock to many employees at the Singapore Turf Club and others in the industry, including horse trainers, horse owners, stable hands and jockeys.

The club’s approximately 350 employees will continue to be employed at least up till October 2024, with some staying till the closure in 2027. They will receive retrenchment packages in line with the Ministry of Manpower guidelines, said Ms Indranee. 

They will also receive job placement assistance, career guidance, skills training and counselling. NTUC has also stepped in to offer support, she added. 

The government had previously said that racehorse trainers and owners would receive support for horse maintenance and exportation. This has been rolled out by the Singapore Turf Club.

“WE WILL FIND HOMES FOR ALL THE HORSES” 

Addressing concerns expressed by trainers that owners might abandon their horses, Ms Indranee noted that it would be an offence under the Animals and Birds Act for owners to abandon their horses or “fail to care appropriately” for them. 

“These are racehorses and the majority of them would probably continue racing. So the question is, how to get them to places where they can continue to race? So exportation would be one of the main strategies to deal with these horses,” she said. 

“But obviously, this is a conversation that we're having with the owners to see what they would like to do with the horses. But bottom line, we will find homes for all the horses.”

She added that the Singapore Turf Club will work with owners to manage their horses in “a responsible manner”, such as through rehoming, either overseas or in a stable in Singapore.

NEED FOR MORE PUBLIC HOUSING 

MPs on Monday also raised questions about the consultation process before the decision was made to take back the site for redevelopment. 

Ms Indranee, in response, highlighted that the government does not “usually” conduct public consultations on decisions around land acquisition, but Singaporeans at large had expressed the need for more public housing.

This informed the government’s decision on whether to take back the Singapore Turf Club’s site for housing purposes, she said.

The decision to redevelop the Singapore Turf Club’s land is “no different” from decisions that the government makes with other sites that are developed for public or other housing, and that is a decision that the government has to take, she added. 

However, before the decision was made to take back the Turf Club’s site, the government had engaged “very widely” with Singaporeans at large on land use under the Urban Redevelopment Authority’s Long-Term Plan Review and other regular engagements. 

“One thing which came back very strongly – not just from Singaporeans who may engage but in this House in recent debates – was the need for more housing. In particular, public housing,” said Ms Indranee. 

“So that was one of the imperatives and one of the drivers as we looked and reviewed the amount of land available for housing. And that informed our decision as to whether to take back this site for housing purposes."

Addressing Associate Professor Jamus Lim’s (WP-Sengkang) question on the likelihood of a “formal” consultation process with stakeholders in the future in light of the dismay and surprise surrounding the Turf Club announcement, Ms Indranee said the government would do “as much public consultation as we can”.

She highlighted instances where public consultations have been conducted, such as when Bills are set to be axed, in the Housing Development Board’s Remaking Our Heartland exercise, as well as in placemaking which refers to the process of proactively managing a place to make it better.

But there is a category that’s “market sensitive” which “you can’t put out” for public consultation, she added. 

“You would not normally go and say, ‘Can I have public consultation on whether I want to do land acquisition?’ … But your decision in deciding whether or not to do the land acquisition may be a result of previous consultations on feedback on congestion, on what people want.”

While the decision has been made to redevelop the land at the Singapore Turf Club, the government is “very mindful of identity and heritage of various areas”, added Ms Indranee. 

“In the early years when we were doing our redevelopment, we used to clear a lot of things, and it was just new buildings coming up. But increasingly, we've become much more sensitive, I think, not only as a ministry but as a population, to our history and heritage.”

Source: CNA/gy(ac)

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