Singapore swaps prime land at swanky Holland Road

Malaysia king’s billionaire son reaches deal with the government, writes Low De Wei

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Singapore’s government is transferring a plot of land in one of its priciest residential enclaves to the eldest son of Malaysia’s billionaire king, in exchange for a larger vacant parcel that his family has owned for more than a century.

Ismail Ibrahim, the Regent of Johor state, is the registered owner of a 21.1-hectare (210,000 square-metre) parcel of land along Holland Road that is worth billions of dollars.

It is close to Singapore’s Botanic Gardens, a colonial-era attraction which has become a Unesco World Heritage Site.

On Tuesday, the city-state’s Urban Redevelopment Authority said Ismail “plans to develop his land”, and the government has reached an agreement to swap an adjacent parcel with him.