KAMPONG TIONG BAHRU FIRE (Statement by the Minister for Labour and Welfare)

10.15 a.m.

Tun Lim Yew Hock: Mr Speaker, Sir, as stated in my reply to the Member for Tiong Bahru, I wish to make a statement now on the disastrous fire which occurred on Friday, 13th February, and devastated a large section of Kampong Tiong Bahru, rendering some 5,000 persons homeless and causing considerable loss and damage to property.

Happily only one person died although there were 58 casualties, nine of whom were admitted to hospital. Hon. Members will have this tragic event still fresh in their minds and I need not go over the harrowing details of this tragedy which has called forth the sympathy, not only of the whole of Singapore, but also from our brothers in the Federation and Brunei and sympathisers from the United Kingdom. In this account, I intend to confine myself purely to the sober statistical details of this fire, the largest Singapore has experienced, and to an account of the measures which Government has taken or intends to provide.

In accordance with the scheme for undertaking emergency measures whenever a fire or other calamity occurs, apart from measures taken to fight the fire and provide immediate medical care and attention to the victims, the Government set up a relief centre under the control of the Social Welfare Department at the Kim Seng Road School. The Social Welfare Department staff and voluntary workers manned the relief centre day and night. Donations of food and clothing and goods immediately poured in from the ever generous public and from voluntary associations in Singapore.

From these donations the Singapore Council of Social Services have to date distributed $154,140 in cash to the fire victims through the Social Welfare Department while that Department itself has paid out $26,060. The Singapore Council of Social Services has spent a further $10,000 on feeding, the Social Welfare Department another $2,000 on equipment, the Public Works Department have spent $12,500 on works carried out, while health services and milk were provided by the Ministry of Health.

While these measures provided immediate relief to the victims, it was necessary to consider the no less urgent problem of their future accommodation.

On the morning following the fire, a team from the Estates Department of the Singapore Improvement Trust, by liaison with the Social Welfare Department, obtained basic information in connection with rehousing requirements. Including late registrations and additions made subsequently, it was necessary to consider rehousing 115 single persons and 920 families amounting to approximately 4,500 persons in all. On Monday, 16th February, Government directed the Singapore Improvement Trust to provide temporary accommodation for the fire victim families at Kallang Airport Estate and to prepare schemes for the immediate redevelopment of the area devastated by the fire. On the following day, Sir, I announced the Government's decision that the victims of the Kampong Tiong Bahru fire would be accommodated free of charge for three months and that a large number of low-cost flats would be built to rehouse all the victims.

The move of all persons living within the school premises and the majority of those who have found accommodation outside the school was completed on Thursday, 26th February. During the 13 days, from the time the Trust was first directed to take part in the operation, 779 units of accommodation were allocated and occupied by approximately 900 families and single person groups. The total move involved more than 4,000 persons. Lettings of 779 units in normal times would take some two months. The organization and effort contributed by the staff who condensed the volume of work into a few days has been possible only because of continued working by the staff on the site until late hours each day.

Now I must come to the Government's intentions in regard to the redevelopment of the fire site itself. It is considered that only a planned redevelopment of the site with permanent housing should be carried out and that haphazard rebuilding with attap or timber barrack buildings should be strongly resisted and prevented. Government has now accordingly gazetted for acquisition the full area of the fire site itself together with additional lands around it for satisfactory redevelopment. The proposals are that the fire site should be developed by the erection of 240 two-room single-storey units and 500 two-room units in multi-storey blocks. The single-storey units will be constructed to a simple but durable structure by the use of wood wool slabs and concrete hollow blocks. Individual water supply and electricity would be laid on to each unit. The overall cost of these two-room units, including a proportion of site work, would be $2,500. Such two-room units could be let complete to larger families or be split to individual rooms for allocation to small families. The redevelopment of the higher portions of the site, having good load bearing capacity would be with seven-storey buildings containing units of almost identical plan to the single storey structures but having balcony access. Such units could again be let out complete or as two individual rooms.

It is estimated that the cost of 500 units of the two-room units in the multi-storey blocks will be approximately $5,000 each or $2,500 per single room.

Sanction will be sought at the next sitting of this Assembly for the provision of additional monies amounting to approximately $3.3 million for this development. In the meantime, the Singapore Improvement Trust is being authorised to proceed immediately with site works in anticipation of Legislative Assembly approval.

It is considered that, after the carrying out of the necessary site works, the first phase of the scheme resulting in the completion of the 240 single-storey units would take three months, while the remaining phases of the scheme would result in further accommodation being available by the completion of a possible 200 units in the multi-storey buildings at six to eight weeks intervals thereafter.

I should like to end this statement by voicing the thanks of this Government and, I am sure, the victims of this fire will wish me to do so on their behalf, to all persons who worked long and devoted hours to alleviate the plight of the afflicted victims, and to the very willing co-operation and assistance rendered by all bodies and organizations, both public and private, from the City Council and the Singapore Improvement Trust to the Council of Social Services and other relief organizations. Last but not least, I must not forget the very generous public of Singapore and our friends in the Federation, Brunei and the United Kingdom whose donations and contributions and more than this, the thought behind these donations and contributions, have warmed our hearts and brought solace to the unfortunate victims.