Impact of Enhancements to HDB Upgrading Programmes

Mr Zaqy Mohamad asked the Minister for National Development with the recent announcement of the three enhancements to HDB's upgrading programmes (a) whether the Ministry plans to increase the budget to enable more flats that qualify, to benefit sooner from the Home Improvement Programme (HIP), Neighbourhood Renewal Programme (NRP) and Selective Lift Replacement Programme (SLRP) each year; and (b) what is the timeline for the upgrading works to be completed for the new batch of flats that qualify.

The Minister for National Development (Mr Khaw Boon Wan): Madam, the three enhancements are significant and will further improve the living environment in existing HDB towns. They will allow more residents to enjoy the benefits of upgrading.

They will impose additional cost on the Government. For example, the NRP cost cap will be raised from $3,400 to $4,700 per flat, to pay for the additional works. The SLRP will require the Government to fund 50% of the lift replacement cost, up to a cap of $125,000 per lift. We will set aside sufficient budget to fund all these enhancements.

HDB expects to complete the selection of all eligible flats for HIP by 2018. As for NRP and SLRP, their implementation will largely be by the local Town Councils. NRP will also require the active engagement of residents in shaping their living environment. The pace of implementation will therefore depend on the extent of active local participation.

Mr Zaqy Mohamad (Chua Chu Kang): I thank the Minister for his response. I am glad that these programmes are in place. I know many of my residents in Chua Chu Kang are certainly very happy and excited by this development. On the question of timeline, I understand the Minister said that this would depend on the Town Councils and the level of engagement on the ground. At the same time, for each Town Council, we are given a quota in terms of the number of projects we can set aside each year. With the new number of blocks that are qualifying now, would that mean that the number of projects we can do per year also increases, if we can show that we can engage more on the ground at the same time?

The second question is the announcement that the Minister made yesterday in terms of some of the new developments in technologies for LUP. Given that we are doing Selective LRP on some of these estates that previously could not benefit from LUP, will there be any possibility of dove-tailing the two sides? Once you have upgraded the blocks, you may actually discount them from undergoing LUP in future.

Mr Khaw Boon Wan: Madam, indeed, we are ramping up the pace of the development. There are three different projects here. For HIP, we are increasing it rapidly. For the HIP, the potential universe is about 300,000 flats. Today, we have started doing -- and some have been completed – about 140,000. This is almost the midway point, maybe about the 45%-mark. I am stepping up the pace of HIP so that over the next two years, we should be able to launch 100,000 flats. The remaining would be about 60,000 flats left. We are very confident that the entire HIP can be wrapped up during the next term of government.

I remember Senior Minister of State Masagos Zulkifli gave me this advice. He said, "These are very old flats, and sometimes, they already have spalling concrete, leakages and so on". The flat owners were debating whether to do the repairs themselves or to wait for HIP. Taking his advice, we decided that starting from early next year, we will announce the selected projects for two years in one go. That means 100,000 flats will be nominated and decided upon. In fact, our circular has already gone out a few weeks ago to the Town Councils. Please think through carefully, which are the important blocks that are urgently in need, and then, we will try to pace them in accordance to needs. That is for HIP.

For NRP, I am prepared to do faster and to do more, but Town Councils have a problem. And that is why for several years, we have settled at the pace of about one project per year per Town Council. They find that if there are more than one NRP projects, they have indigestion. If Chua Chu Kang Town Council can do better, you are most welcome. Nominate them and I am game to match your pace. But I think you will find difficulty because it is a project where the emphasis is on consultation as you want the locals to own the project. So, they need to gather to discuss, "What shall we have? More drop-off points and so on?" That process of engagement, you cannot rush it.

As for the LRP, it is a very specialised item. In fact, it was the Member who alerted this House to the lifts that he has in Chua Chu Kang which did not seem to be as good as some of the lifts that he had seen in the newer blocks. We probed and found that there were about 700 such lifts. For some reason, most of them were installed in his GRC, as well as in Pasir Ris. Together, they "cornered" the market!

That particular model of lifts, in due course, would be replaced with new and better model. When you need to replace them, we will fund half of the cost, which is quite substantial because the cost of a lift is about a quarter million dollars. It will cost the Government almost $100 million. Again, this is where we leave it to you to decide when you want to replace them. When you do replace them, send us the bill and we will co-pay part of the cost. But do not waste. Although those lifts are a bit "funny", they are functional. Actually, they are not "funny" at all; they are totally functional and safe. But if you feel that you prefer some of the new features of the new lifts and you want them now, instead of waiting for the full 28 years life-span of the lifts, and they are maybe at Year 25, you may want to advance doing it. If you decide to do it, send us the bill and we will pay half of it.