In an announcement to the Australian Securities Exchange on 2 February, Life Corporation said that it had “provided all information required and requested in accordance with the tender conditions” in its bid for the plot of land in Fernvale in Singapore.
Life Corporation’s subsidiary, Eternal Pure Land Pte Ltd, has been caught in a controversy since the company won the bid in 2014 for the site which had been designated a “place of worship” by the authorities here.
After news emerged that Eternal Pure Land plans to run a columbarium along with a Chinese temple at the site, residents of the new BTO flats in the area protested that they were not informed about this at the point of sale.
The outcry prompted the Singapore Government to make a reversal and say that a “commercial columbarium” will now not be allowed at the site.
Life Corp, in its statement to the Australian Securities Exchange, said “the tender process was open and transparent.’
It said that it recognised “recent public sentiment” that the ownership of such land development should be by a non-profit religious organisation.
It added that “it has always been its intention that the temple component of the development would be headed by religious individuals.”
Life Corp also said it “has made preliminary plans” regrading the operation of the temple.
Nonetheless, it said it is sensitive to recent public and Government comments, and “is currently exploring with the Government whether a mutually satisfactory and viable solution can be found in due course.”
