MINISTRY OF NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT

Public Housing

Since 1960 two 5-year building programmes for public housing have been completed and two satellite towns --Queenstown and Toa Payoh--created. Altogether 137,000 units of flats had been completed by the end of 1971 and about 750,000 people (37 per cent of the population) are now living in Housing and Development Board flats. The third 5-year building programme (1971-75) has commenced and two new towns will be built at Telok Blangah and Woodlands. The third 5-year building programme will provide an additional 100,000 units of flats to house 500,000 more people.

The policy of allowing the use of Central Provident Fund for the purchase of flats has made it possible for many citizens to buy their own homes. More than 40,000 families now own the flats they occupy. However, this policy has also resulted in greater demand for HDB flats. There are now 70,000 applicants on the waiting list (47,000 to buy and 23,000 to rent). The Housing and Development Board will therefore speed up its present building rate of one flat every 26 minutes.

Because of higher incomes and higher CPF savings, we must build almost twice as many units as we have built in the last five years. However, with each unit averaging about twice the floorspace per unit, this means quadrupling the building capacity of the HDB flats. This must be done without lowering the quality of layout and planning. The standard of finish of the new high-rise flats from the outside, in the design and appearance, and inside for the occupants, must be good. We must avoid another sudden surge in demand for building material and construction workers, which a few years ago pushed building costs up.

When the Housing and Development Board first began building in 1960, the object was to provide homes as quickly as possible with little attention being paid to the residents' needs for recreation. Now that the back of the housing problem has been broken, the Board can and will provide more facilities for rest and recreation. In existing HDB estates more parks and swimming pools will be provided where there is land available. In Toa Payoh a sports complex including four swimming pools is under construction. Additional swimming pools will be built in Queenstown. New swimming pool complexes will be built at Henderson Road/Jalan Bukit Merah, Bukit Ho Swee, Tanjong Rhu/ Kallang Airport Estates, MacPherson Estates and Kallang Basin Estates. The new housing estates (for example, Telok Blangah, Woodlands, Bedok and Ang Mo Kio) will be better planned and have not only better designed and more comfortable homes, but also larger open spaces and more parks, swimming pools and sports complexes. In every neighbourhood, well-equipped children's playgrounds will be provided in addition to sports facilities, such as basket-ball and badminton courts. Land will also be set aside for the construction of community centres. The ground floors of each block of flats will be free for indoor sports, like table tennis, and children to play in. The Board will spend about $75 million during the next five years to provide recreational facilities.

Urban Renewal

Slum clearance and redevelopment of the central area will be accelerated so that better housing and living environment will replace the congested and dilapidated housing conditions in the inner city. People living in areas under clearance will be temporarily inconvenienced by resettlement and a change of their habits in the old environment they have got accustomed to. Comprehensive planning of urban renewal will be carried out to reduce inconvenience and hardship to a minimum. An Urban Renewal Authority will be established by 1st April, 1973, to implement a systematic programme of redevelopment of the Central area including housing, commercial and shopping centres, entertainment and recreational facilities, car parking, road traffic and pedestrian circulation, parks and landscaped walkways. A new and gracious city will be created. At the same time, buildings and monuments of historical and architectural value are being preserved and placed in a more attractive setting.

Condominium Housing

Many private housing estates of mainly terrace and semi-detached houses have been built in the past. This type of development is wasteful in land use and produces heavily built up and congested areas entirely covered with roofs and tarmac with little open space. The condominium concept was recently introduced to encourage more intensive use of land for housing development by the private sector. This will bring the prices of housing within the reach of many more of our citizens and complement the efforts of the Housing and Development Board in providing more homes for the people.

Public Works

The public works projects in the construction and improvement of roads, bridges, schools, hospitals, parks and playgrounds will continue to be implemented. The Pan-Island Expressway running in east-west direction will eventually form an essential highway linking several satellite towns. Work on the stretch between Paya Lebar and Jalan Eunos and the extension to Sims Avenue has been completed, the section from Whitley Road to Jalan Anak Bukit is in progress, including an underpass below Adams Road now under construction. Other road systems at Bendeemer Road, Jalan Bukit Merah, Irwell Bank Road, Paterson Road, Grange Road and Stevens Road forming key routes for traffic converging towards the Central business district are being widened and improved. Work on the major East Coast Parkway on the east coast reclamation site has also started.

Garden City

Considerable progress has been made in developing Singapore into a Garden City through the planting of trees, shrubs and other plants along thoroughfares, road-sides, traffic islands, landscaping of open spaces and the building of parks and gardens. This more pleasant and green environment will be extended throughout the City Centre, the housing estates, suburbs and the rural areas.

Government's policy is to provide more parks for rest and recreation. Major parks planned and established are those at Mount Faber, Kampong Java, Tanah Merah and the Central Park at Canning Rise. About one-third or 500 acres of the reclaimed land along the East Coast will be reserved for recreation to form a long stretch of green from Bedok to Tanjong Rhu between the proposed major East Coast Parkway and the sea. This stretch of about 10 kilometres of the coast line will be developed into the largest park in Singapore with beach shelters, toilets and changing rooms, children's playgrounds and stalls providing food and drinks. A large lagoon near the Bedok end will be developed into a seawater swimming complex with a capacity equivalent to that of about 50 Olympic-sized swimming pools. About $10 million will be spent on this Park alone.

Close co-ordination is maintained by the Parks and Trees Division with the Urban Renewal Department to ensure that small gardens and open spaces, pedestrian malls and landscaped walks are included in urban redevelopment planning. The Stamford Canal along Orchard Road will be covered over and developed into a landscaped pedestrian mall to add beauty and colour to this important thoroughfare. As more high-rise buildings sprout up in the City, it is essential to have greenery, trees, small parks and open space to temper the harsh concrete structures, and to give relief in the greenness of nature.

Building Control

A new Building Control Division was created in February 1972 to streamline procedures for building plans approval and enforcement, and to deal effectively with problems arising from the rapid expansion of construction activities, and also the new technology connected with high-rise buildings. New building laws and regulations will be enacted to meet present and future requirements.

Primary Production

Despite dwindling land resources for farming, Singapore has maintained its self-sufficiency in pork, poultry and eggs. Ornamental fish and orchid export trade continue to increase and flourish. As development of housing, industries and urbanisation continue to encroach upon and reduce the acreage of farmland, our farmers must become more efficient and agricultural land must be made more productive. Factory farms and flatted farms will be planned to reduce pollution of water in the catchment areas of the Kranji and Pandan reservoirs from pig waste.