APPLICANTS FOR HDB FLATS (On waiting list for seven to eight years)

Mr M.K.A. Jabbar asked the Minister for National Development what is being done for people who have been waiting seven to eight years for a Housing and Development Board flat because resettlement cases have been given priority over them.

Mr Lee Yock Suan (for the Minister for National Development): Mr Deputy Speaker, Sir, most of the sites required for HDB's developments are encumbered by squatters. Priority has to be given to resettling these squatters in order to clear the land for public projects, including housing.

As at 30th June 1981, there were 94,400 applicants on HDB's waiting list to purchase flats. About 8,000 or 8.47% of these applicants have waited for seven years or more for their flats. Most of them have registered for flats in the Central Area or popular estates fringing the Central Area. These applicants have been repeatedly advised to transfer their applications to other zones as at least half of the flats built in the Central Area are set aside for resettlement cases.

The number of flats available for public applicants is, therefore, very limited. Those who transfer their applications to the New Towns are likely to get their flats immediately if they have already waited for five years. Those who insist on flats in the Central Area will have to wait many more years.