SINGAPORE: A task force has been set up to help Singaporeans and local businesses seize opportunities and reap benefits from the upcoming Johor Bahru-Singapore Rapid Transit System (RTS) Link.
The announcement was made by Health Minister Ong Ye Kung on March 16 at the launch of an initiative at Woodlands North Plaza, where residents can claim vouchers that allow them to buy daily staples for $1.
Ong said he had approached Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Trade and Industry Gan Kim Yong for help in forming a task force to “look into how we can seize the opportunities of RTS... (and) at the same time find ways to cushion the impact for those who are affected”.
Ong said he takes a “very special interest” in watching the developments because Woodlands North station, the terminus of the rail link, is in Sembawang Group Representation Constituency (GRC, in which teams of candidates, instead of individual candidates, compete to be elected into Parliament).
While the RTS Link may nudge Singaporeans across the Causeway for shopping, there is an opportunity for Singapore to rejuvenate many of its retail areas and heartland centres to “offer something different that Malaysian shoppers will find coming to Singapore also quite interesting”, said Ong, who is an MP for Sembawang GRC.
He said, however, that there are also those who will be affected.
“If you run shops or you sell things or sell food that directly compete with Johor Bahru’s vendors, I think you can be affected.”
The task force aims to study how Singapore can tap the potential and benefits from the RTS Link to rejuvenate the country’s heartland. It will also consider opportunities for Singapore businesses with the increased connectivity and ease of travel offered by the rail link, the Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI) said on March 16.
It will consult heartland enterprises and local businesses, and aim to put out its findings and recommendations in 2026, the ministry added.
When ready by the end of 2026, the RTS Link can carry up to 10,000 people an hour in each direction between Bukit Chagar in Johor Bahru and Woodlands North in Singapore.
Alvin Tan, Minister of State for Trade and Industry and chairman of the task force, said preliminary work such as meetings with MTI staff, grassroots leaders, the Housing Board, trade agency Enterprise Singapore and merchants’ associations were done in November 2024.
“We are going to take our time to make sure that we listen to all of you, listen to the merchant association... so that we can put together a plan to make sure all of us can reap the benefits of this RTS Link,” said Tan in a speech at the same event in Woodlands.
The task force is made up of members from MTI, the National Development, Manpower and Health ministries, the Urban Redevelopment Authority, Enterprise Singapore, HDB and Woodlands Health.
When ready by the end of 2026, the RTS Link can carry up to 10,000 people an hour in each direction between Bukit Chagar in Johor Bahru and Woodlands North in Singapore.
Alvin Tan, Minister of State for Trade and Industry and chairman of the task force, said preliminary work such as meetings with MTI staff, grassroots leaders, the Housing Board, trade agency Enterprise Singapore and merchants’ associations were done in November 2024.
“We are going to take our time to make sure that we listen to all of you, listen to the merchant association... so that we can put together a plan to make sure all of us can reap the benefits of this RTS Link,” said Mr Tan in a speech at the same event in Woodlands.
The task force is made up of members from MTI, the National Development, Manpower and Health ministries, the Urban Redevelopment Authority, Enterprise Singapore, HDB and Woodlands Health.
Sembawang GRC MP Mariam Jaafar and Marsiling-Yew Tee GRC MP Hany Soh will work with the task force to engage Singapore businesses, heartland shops and merchants’ associations on ideas to rejuvenate Singapore’s heartland and make them more vibrant, said MTI. - The Straits Times/ANN
