State Lands (Amendment) Bill

Bill No. 4/2009

Read the first time on 19th January 2009.

An Act to amend the State Lands Act (Chapter 314 of the 1996 Revised Edition).

Be it enacted by the President with the advice and consent of the Parliament of Singapore, as follows:

Short title and commencement

1. This Act may be cited as the State Lands (Amendment) Act 2009 and shall come into operation on such date as the Minister may, by notification in the Gazette, appoint.

New section 3A

2. The State Lands Act (referred to in this Act as the principal Act) is amended by inserting, immediately after section 3, the following section:

“Modes of alienation

3A. State lands which are alienated or otherwise disposed of, or in respect of which a lease or licence to occupy is issued, under this Act may be alienated, leased or licensed —

(a)	as a parcel of the surface earth, all substances thereunder and so much of the column of airspace above the surface as is reasonably necessary for the use and enjoyment thereof;
(b)	as a parcel of airspace or subterranean space, whether or not held apart from the surface of the earth; or
(c)	only down to such depth below the surface earth as the President may by order direct.”.

Amendment of section 4

3. Section 4 of the principal Act is amended —

(a)	by deleting the words “, and the reference shall be to 2 arbitrators having power to appoint an umpire under the provisions of that Act” in the 8th, penultimate and last lines of subsection (3); and
(b)	by deleting the words “horses, buffaloes, bullocks and carts or wagons” in subsection (4)(b) and substituting the words “animals or vehicles”.

Amendment of section 7

4. Section 7(1) of the principal Act is amended by deleting the words “his officers” in paragraph (d) and substituting the words “any officer authorised by him in writing”.

Amendment of section 10

5. Section 10 of the principal Act is amended —

(a)

by inserting, immediately after subsection (1), the following subsection:

“(1A) For the purpose of giving effect to any provision of any international convention, treaty or agreement to which Singapore is a party, the Minister may, by order published in the Gazette, vest in the Government such estate or interest in land pursuant to such provisions and specified in the order, and upon the coming into operation of any such order, the estate or interest to which the order relates shall, by virtue of that order and without any conveyance, assignment or further assurance, vest in the Government free from encumbrances.”; and

(b)

by inserting, immediately after the words “religious purposes,” in the marginal note, the word “etc.,”.

Amendment of section 13A

6. Section 13A of the principal Act is amended —

(a)	by deleting the word “under-lease” wherever it appears in subsections (1), (3), (4) and (5) and substituting in each case the word “sub-lease”;
(b)	by deleting the words “an under-lease” in subsection (2) and substituting the words “a sub-lease”;
(c)	by deleting the word “under-leases” in subsection (2) and substituting the word “sub-leases”;
(d)	by deleting the word “under-lessee” in subsections (4) and (5)(b) and substituting in each case the word “sub-lessee”; and
(e)	by deleting the words “had remained on foot” in subsection (5)(a) and substituting the words “had not been surrendered”.

Amendment of section 20

7. Section 20 of the principal Act is amended —

(a)

by deleting the words “ditch, fence, posts, marked trees, stones” in subsection (1) and substituting the words “drains, fence”; and

(b)

by deleting the marginal note and inserting the following section heading:

“Erection and repair of wall, bank, etc.”.

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