Companies dedicated to green business and technology will soon find their home in Singapore’s CleanTech Park, the first eco-business park in the country.

The master plan for the 50-hectare park stems from Singapore’s plan to be a “living laboratory” where companies can develop, test-bed and commercialize green and urban solutions before expanding to the Asia-Pacific region and worldwide.

JTC Corporation will build the $52 million clean technology hub which will be built in three phases over 20 years.

The first phase will begin in July this year and will cover approximately 17 hectares of land. Upon completion in 2030, the eco-business park will house a population of 20,000 workers.

Infrastructures will be strategically built through the minimal land cut principle to promote environmental sustainability and preserve the site’s natural biodiversity and existing vegetation.

The park will also adopt JTC’s Sky Trellis concept to provide plant-covered trellises, or drainage systems, connected between adjacent buildings. The trellises also provide shade for the open spaces in the area.

Located at Nanyang Avenue, the park will house research and development activities for its neighbor and first anchor tenant, the Nanyang Technological University, to promote partnerships between industries and academies.

“It will help us work seamlessly with key industry partners in CleanTech Park and allow our students to gain invaluable opportunities for attachment and hands-on experience in state-of-the-art green technologies,” said Professor Subodh Mhaisalkar, co-director for the university’s Energy Research Institute.

The eco-business park is part of the country’s Singapore Sustainable Blueprint worth 1 billion Singaporean dollars ($700 million) that aims to make the country greener and more energy-efficient.

Singapore’s clean technology industry is expected to contribute 3.4 billion Singaporean dollars to the country’s gross domestic product and give jobs to 18,000 people by 2015.

During the unveiling of CleanTech’s master plan on Thursday, Manohar Khiatani, JTC chief executive, noted that businesses will naturally head toward environmental sustainability.

“CleanTech Park will be emblematic of how businesses can achieve both economic vibrancy and environmental sustainability; functioning in harmony with nature,” he said.

JTC is also responsible for Singapore’s other landmark infrastructures like the Tuas BioMedical Park and the Seletar AeroSpace Park.