BUKIT HO SWEE (Conversion of semi-communal flats into self-contained flats)

Mr Seah Mui Kok asked the Minister for Law and National Development if he will ascertain from the Housing and Development Board if the Board has any plans to convert all the semi-communal one-room flats with toilets outside at blocks 1, 3, 5, 7 and 9 at Jalan Bukit Ho Swee into one-room improved self-contained flats with toilets and to provide more accommodation space for the tenants.

Mr E. W. Barker: Mr Speaker, Sir, the Housing and Development Board has plans to convert the one-room semi-communal flats at Bukit Ho Swee into two-room self-contained units. Conversion work will commence as soon as some 500 units of one-room improved flats now being constructed at Delta Estate opposite Bukit Ho Swee are completed in the middle of next year. The Member will appreciate that we cannot do any work on the one-room flats until there is alternative accommodation available for the present occupants. The existing tenants at Bukit Ho Swee will be given the choice of either renting the modified two-room self-contained units or moving into the new improved one-room flats at Delta Estate.