SUPPLEMENTARY PROVISION (Sessional Paper No. Cmd. 18 of 1959)

[Mr Speaker in the Chair]

The Acting Financial Secretary (Mr Oon Khye Kiang): Mr Speaker, Sir, I have the Governor's recommendation to move the following motion,

That this Assembly resovles that the sum of $5,369,000 shall be supplied to the Government under the head of expenditure and for the services specified in the Schedule contained in Sessional Paper No. Cmd. 18 of 1959.

Sir, hon. Members will recollect that two big fires took place in Singapore during the last one year. The first fire broke out at Kampong Koo Chye (Lorong 3, Geylang) on 5th April, 1958, and destroyed over 100 huts and rendered 379 families, which comprised 2,050 persons, homeless. 172 families have been accommodated in the S.I.T. flats in the old Kallang Airport site and 12 families in Queenstown at subsidised rents. The others are residing with friends and relatives.

The first phase of rehabilitation has been completed and it is proposed to complete the second and final phase, by constructing flats for sale to these fire victims. It is estimated that the cost of each flat would be about $5,000 and any victim who wishes to purchase a flat must pay $500 as the first deposit and thereafter pay $50 per mensem for about seven years. A lease of 60 years at a nominal rental of $1 per year will be granted. Of 308 applications for the purchase of these flats, involving 323 families, only 186 families can afford to pay on the terms agreed. The others, including those who do not apply for the purchase of these flats, have asked that part of the money collected from the public amounting to about $192,000 be distributed to them, as it would be unfair that their share of the money be given to subsidise the cost of buildings which would eventually be purchased by those who could afford to pay. There are 193 families or about 1,000 persons who do not wish to have the flats. Distribution to them will involve a sum of about $90,000 and this will be paid out of the sum of slightly over $90,000 which has been donated to the Department of Social Welfare.

It is proposed to build 190 two-room flats at the cost of $873,000. The City Council will hand over to Government a sum of $202,000 comprising:

(a) contribution from public - $102,000

(b) City Council donation - $100,000

The Government will contribute $102,000 on a dollar from dollar basis, and this amount has been obtained under Head 25 in Sessional Paper No. Cmd. 17 of 1959 and will in addition provide the balance of $569 towards the cost of this project. It has since been learnt that the contribution from the public received by the City Council amounts to $106,000. It is, of course, too late to ask for this additional $4,000.

The S.I.T will be asked to construct these flats for sale.

The second fire at Kampong Tiong Bahru broke out on the 13th February, 1959. It has devastated an area of 29 acres and the memories of this diaster are still fresh in the minds of the hon. Members to require any repetition. With the assistance of all concerned, the first phase for the rehabilitation of the victims has been completed. A total of 492 two-room flats and 239 one-room flats of the S.I.T. have been allocated to 5,023 persons.

It is thought that the correct long-term solution to the problem at hand would be to develop the site to provide a better standard of accommodation for the victims and to prevent a recurrence of this kind of disaster in the area. It is therefore proposed to acquire the site and ask the S.I.T. to build low cost houses for rental to the victims. The development will be carried out in three phases. Phase I will cover the construction of 240 tow-room units on the lower portion of the site. The overall cost of each unit will be about $2,500 including site works. The structure will be simple but durable and wooden slabs and concrete blocks will be used. Phases II and III will cover the development of the higher portions of the site. It involves the construction of 500 two-room units in 7-storey buildings containing units exactly similar in plan to those in Phase I, but having balcony access on each floor. The estimated cost per unit would be $5,000 or $2,500 per single room. The additional cost in this case is accounted for by the need for piling, modern sanitation and other ancillary works.

The cost of acquiring the site will be about $1.5 million. It is estimated that Phase I will cost $600,000 and each of Phases II and III $1.25 million. An additional cost of $200,000 will be involved in making up access roads from Kim Tian Road and other miscellaneous works. The estimated total cost will be $4.8 million in respect of which supplementary provision application is made.

The Singapore Council of Social Services has started the Kampong Tiong Bahru Relief Fund which closed on the 13th March with about $600,000 from contributions from the public. It is proposed to distribute these proceeds to the fire victims. This will be in addition to $26,100 already paid out by the Social Welfare Department.

The City Council has decided to donate $100,000 together with contributions of $38,000 collected from the public towards this Fund. The U.K. Government has also donated $42,850. This total sum of $180,850 will be utilised towards the cost of the building and the Government expenditure will thereby be reduced.

The S.I.T. will again be asked to carry out this scheme and will assist in the other administrative work on behalf of Government. The other financial arrangements such as the amount of rents to be charged and maintenance costs, etc. are being worked out.

In conclusion, Sir. I would like to draw the attention of the hon. Members to a change in the Head of Expenditure in the printed Sessional Paper as compared with the cyclostyled copy which was first circulated to Members. In view of the natureof the two schemes it is thought that it would be more appropriate to show them under Head D43-Land and District Offices-instead of Treasury which is mainly concerned with loans as such.

Sir, I beg to move.

Inche Mohamed Sidik: Sir, I second it.

Motion committed to Committee of Supply.

Motion and Schedule considered in Committee of Supply.

[Mr Speaker in the Chair]

2.40 p.m.

Inche Mohamed Sidik: Head D43-

Question proposed,

"That the sum of $5,369,000 for Head D43 stand part of the Schedule."

Mr Francis Thomas (Nominated): Could the Financial Secretary tell us what the square footage per flat will be? i.e. how many square feet of space will each flat contain?

Mr Oon Khye Kiang: There are two schemes here. Could Mr Thomas say which of the two schemes he is referring to?

Mr Francis Thomas: Sir, since the cost of the schemes is different, I presume the square footage will be also different.

Mr Oon Khye Kiang: I regret I do not have the information available right now, and if the Member still requires the information, I shall arrange for the information to be forwarded to him.

Mr Francis Thomas: This provision is of some importance, Sir, it seems to me, because I have not had the time to look it over thoroughly. But I went into the Library just now and got the S.I.T. Report for 1957-that was just after the Suez crisis and building costs had gone up-Kallang Airport, 5-storey flats with a two-room flat gave 284 square feet and the cost was only $4,345 per flat. Here, for Kampong Koo Chye, on a rather comparable site but probably less space taken up, we are going to pay something around $4,600 - about $300 more - and for Tiong Bahru, the cost came to $5,000. The difference in cost is quite considerable, and I wonder whether there is more or less square footage per flat, and how the cost is arrived at.

Mr Oon Khye Kiang: Sir, I have the information. It is 360 square feet per flat.

Mr Lim Koon Teck (Paya Lebar): Mr Speaker, Sir, I am sure everyone in this House will welcome the scheme that Government has proposed to house the people who have suffered in these two very disastrous fires at Kampong Koo Chye and at Kampong Tiong Bahru. I am particularly happy to see that such energetic steps are being taken by Government to try and solve the housing situation for all these fire victims.

Sir, I have been approached by people who had lost their houses in the Lorong 3 area, and they told me that the idea of two-storey flats is not particularly welcome to them because the first floor has two common staircases serving about ten flats. They request that instead of having two flats, one above the other, it would be a better idea to have one two-storey house for each family. In making this request, they were not asking for bigger and better accommodation. The accommodation could be on the same area of about 500 square feet per house. At the present moment, each flat occupying about 500 square feet will consist of two rooms, a kitchen and latrine; but if these two rooms are placed above the other, then each family will have their own house with their own staircase. I recommend this suggestion to the Government.

2.45 p.m.

Mr William Tan: Mr Speaker, Sir, I shall be much obliged if the Financial Secretary can inform thos House of the approximate cost per square foot of the land for acquiring the site.

Mr Oon Khye Kiang: I assume that the hon. Member for Tiong Bahru is referring to the Tiong Bahru site?

Mr William Tan: Yes.

Mr Oon Khye Kiang: Actually it is estimated at $1.5 million to acquire the whole site.

Mr William Tan: What is the approximate cost per square foot? Sir, what I want to know from the Financial Secretary is this. We are going to acquire the land where the huts were burnt. Can the Financial Scretary inform this House of the approximate cost per square foot to acquire this piece of land?

Mr Oon Khye Kiang: I am sorry that I am unable to give the hon. Member for Tiong Bahru the exact figure he wants, but the land to be acquired has been assessed by the Land Office, and we expect it to be $1.5 million. If the hon. Member still wants to know the exact figure, the information will be supplied to him.

Mr R. Jumabhoy: Sir, I wonder why the Members on the Opposition side should embarrass the Hon. the Financial Secretary at all on this question when the Members who form the present Government will only remain a few days more in the Government.

Mr Francis Thomas: Sir, if I heard aright, the Hon. the Financial Secretary gave us a figure of 360 square feet, while one of his Back-benchers gave us a figure of 500. I wonder if we can have a firm figure.

Mr Oon Khye Kiang: My information is 360 square feet.

Question put, and agreed to.

The sum of $5,369,000 for Head D43 ordered to stand part of the Schedule.

The sum of $5,369,000 for the Head of Expenditure and for the services specified in the Schedule ordered to stand part of the Motion.

Motion and Schedule reported, without Amendment.

Question on the Motion put, and agreed to.

Resolved,

That this Assembly resolves that the sum of $5,369,000 shall be supplied to the Government under the head of expenditure and for the services specified in the Schedule contained in Sessional Paper No. Cmd. 18 of 1959.