FLATS IN FORMER BALESTIER ESTATE (Particulars)

Inche Abdul Aziz Karim asked the Minister for Law and National Development (a) when construction of dwelling flats in the former Balestier Estate along Lorong Limau will begin and when they will be completed for occupation; (b) whether those flats will be offered first to residents in Kallang Constituency, who have been or are likely to be affected by the Government's development programmes, and also to Kallang residents who are staying in slum-like areas; and (c) what amenities will be provided to the tenants of those flats.

Mr E. W. Barker: Mr Speaker, Sir, the question is in three parts and I propose to answer accordingly.

(a) Piling work for the flats in the former Balestier Estate will commence in two months' time and about 2,000 flats are expected to be completed by the end of 1971. Another 3,000 flats are expected to be completed by late 1972 or early 1973.

(b) These flats will be offered to both the public and the clearance cases. Residents in the Kallang Constituency affected by the clearance programme will be given priority, but not those residents who are not so affected.

(c) In Balestier Estate, a market and shopping centre will be provided for the residents, together with car parks and children's playgrounds. Four acres of land will be set aside for outdoor recreational amenities, like basket-ball, badminton and sepak raga.

Inche Abdul Aziz Karim: Will the Housing and Development Board tenants who are now staying in slum-like overcrowded one-room flats in the Kallang Basin Estate be given preference in transferring to bigger flats in Balestier Estate, and will they continue to stay in the Kallang Constituency?

Mr Barker: They will not be given priority because there are other slum-like areas in other constituencies which deserve as much priority as the slum dwellers of Kallang. But should any residents of Kallang be affected by some development project and are cleared accordingly, then they will, of course, be given priority as the clearance cases are given priority in other constituencies.

Inche Abdul Aziz Karim: Mr Speaker, Sir, can the Minister explain why the people who were affected by clearance action in other areas outside Kallang were allocated flats in Kallang? And why the people in Kallang who were affected by clearance action were given flats outside Kallang, because there were no flats available in Kallang at the time clearance action was taken by the Housing and Development Board? What is the wisdom of that policy?

Mr Barker: The answer is probably this. The clearance cases in other constituencies were given priority because they were more special cases. But, as far as is possible, we try to accommodate people where they want to live, and preferably in the area or locality from which they have been evicted. People in Singapore are reluctant to move from, say, Katong to Bukit Timah, or from Geylang Serai to Sembawang. This is because they have got used to the place. But, as far as is possible, we accommodate them where they would like to go.

Dr Augustine H. H. Tan (Whampoa): Mr Speaker, Sir, my problem is similar to that of the Member for Kallang.

Mr Speaker: Can you ask your supplementary question?

Dr Augustine Tan: Yes. This is related to the question of priority for the -

Mr Speaker: Can you please frame your supplementary question, rather than make a speech?

Dr Augustine Tan: Sir, the question is this. Should the Minister not consider giving first priority to those people living in slum-like flats at $20 a month, with no private toilet, in Kallang as well as Whampoa and other areas? Some of these people were moved into these slum-like flats from resettlement areas, and they were told at that time that they would be relocated in better housing should it be available.

Mr Barker: I think we are all getting confused! The question I was asked by the Member for Kallang was whether people in his constituency would be given priority. The answer was yes, if they were cleared by the Housing and Development Board or affected by housing development. But if they are not affected cases, in other words, if they are not evicted by the Resettlement Department of the Housing and Development Board, then they do not deserve the same degree of priority as clearance cases. But we are just as interested in getting rid of slums as both the Members are or appear to be.