LAND ALLOCATION FOR MALAY SETTLEMENT AT AYER GEMUROH

Monday, 5th December, 1966

The following Question for Oral Answer stood on the Order Paper of 5th December, 1966:

22. "Mr Sim Boon Woo: To ask the Minister for Law and National Development what progress has been made in regard to the allocation of land for a Malay settlement at Ayer Gemuroh and when allocation will be made to the 290 applicants."

Pursuant to Standing Order No. 20 (2) , the Minister for Law and National Development supplied the following answer:-

22. "No allocation of land in the Malay settlement at Ayer Gemuroh has been made since 1959. The Government, taking cognizance of the acute shortage of land, has decided that the policy regarding such settlement should be reviewed in the light of our rapidly increasing population.

In Ayer Gemuroh for instance, some 82 acres of land were set aside for a Malay settlement. This land, however, was not completely vacant as at the time of gazetting in March 1959 there were already 190 Malay, 16 Chinese and 5 Indian families living on it. In the same year, 8 new families moved into the area and were allocated one lot each. Hence, though in theory it would appear that there were many lots which still remain to be allocated, in actual fact not much land is available for allocation at the site. Further, some parts of this land are low lying and subject to floods, and to make these parts suitable for habitation will require considerable expenditure of public funds towards earthworks and the construction of a sea-wall as well as the provision of roads, drainage, water, electricity and other facilities. The cost of earthworks alone has been estimated at $40,000.

In view of the heavy expenditure required to settle a few more families in this area, the Government considers that alternative means may have to be found to solve the housing problem of the applicants, as it is evident that the advantages to be gained from the expenditure of funds at Ayer Gemuroh will be very much less than if the same sum of money is spent on a planned housing estate."