IMPROVEMENTS TO OLDER HDB FLATS IN TIONG BAHRU GRC

Dr S. Vasoo asked the Minister for National Development whether he will indicate the types of improvement that will be undertaken for older Housing and Development Board flats in Tiong Bahru GRC and when these programmes are likely to be implemented.

The Minister for National Development (Mr S. Dhanabalan): Mr Speaker, Sir, when HDB embarked on its public housing programme, Singaporeans were facing a critical shortage of housing and we had to solve a huge housing problem quickly. Quality and distinctiveness had to take a lower priority, especially in the early years. The result was many large public housing developments which were uniform and lacking in finish and character.

Now, 78% of our people live in purchased HDB flats of their own. We have overcome the housing shortage. With continued economic growth and rising affluence, Singaporeans aspire for a better quality of life. More and more HDB applicants are seeking a high quality flat to invest their savings in, rather than just a roof and shelter for their family and themselves.

The Government is confident that it can fulfil these aspirations for a higher quality of life. In fact, Mr Speaker, Sir, a higher quality of life is the central thrust of our Vision for 1999. Letting our people upgrade to better homes as they progress in life and become able to afford them was set out as an objective in the Agenda for Action. HDB will soon launch an upgrading programme which will bring about a quantum change in the quality and character of public housing. This programme will improve the interior and exterior of flats in existing HDB estates, and progressively convert them into precincts and communities of middle-class housing, comparable to or even better than the latest HDB projects at Pasir Ris and Bishan.

The upgrading programme will do more than give a facelift to old blocks. It should bring about a complete change in the perception of public housing. Each HDB estate will be divided into small precincts of five to seven blocks. Each precinct will be a small area which the residents can relate to as their own, to enjoy and be responsible for. We will also modify the residential blocks to restrict access by non-residents to the corridors and other public areas within the blocks, so that residents can control access to them as if it is their own private space. We aim to create small communities with a distinct sense of identity, ownership and belonging, so community ties in each neighbourhood will be stronger and residents will not feel compelled to move in order to upgrade.

The upgrading programme will encompass:

(i) Improvements within the flats, for example, changing of sanitary fittings and the addition of another bath/toilet for flats with one bath/toilet;

(ii) Improvements in the block outside the flats, for example, upgrading corridors, staircases, the lift lobby and the facade design;

(iii) Improvements in the precinct outside the block, for example, linkways between blocks and multi-storey carparks, so that surface carparks can be replaced by landscaped areas and children playgrounds; and

(iv) Building of new blocks for sale on vacant land where rental blocks have been cleared.

HDB will identify the types of improvements that are practical and give value for money. Different levels of upgrading are possible. Town Councils will be responsible for seeking the views of the residents and deciding on what upgrading works to carry out for each precinct before HDB embarks on the programme for that particular precinct. The extent and type of improvement works will thus vary between blocks and between estates, depending on what the residents prefer and how much they are willing to pay.

The cost of this upgrading will be shared between the Government, Town Councils and the owners of the HDB apartments. How this will be done is being studied.

As the upgrading programme will be a large-scale and long-term project, extensive studies and many pilot projects will be undertaken before we proceed with full-scale implementation. Starting this year, HDB will carry out its first pilot project on a few blocks of flats to test the design changes, construction techniques and cost of the programme. The first phase of the full programme should begin in 1991.

Mr Speaker: Mr Ng.

Mr Chiam See Tong: Sir, I was asked --

Mr Speaker: Mr Chiam, I gave the floor to Mr Ng.

Mr Chiam See Tong: I still do not know what the answer to this question is. It is a long policy speech.

Mr Speaker: Mr Chiam, can you please take your seat? You will rise only when I call you. Mr Ng.

Mr Ng Pock Too (Nee Soon Central): Thank you, Mr Speaker. Will the cost sharing formula for this upgrading programme be uniformly applied to all Town Councils irrespective of how old the HDB estates are?

Mr Dhanabalan: Mr Speaker, Sir, no. The formula that is being worked out will take into account the age of the estate, the original design, the extent to which upgrading has got to be done. The approach will be similar to the approach that we have adopted for Town Councils in working out the subsidy for maintenance.

Dr Koh Lip Lin (Nee Soon South): Sir, can I ask the Minister whether he can tell the House briefly about the scale and timeframe of this upgrading programme. In other words, how many flats approximately will be upgraded per year from 1991 onwards and how many years will it take for one whole cycle of upgrading? Also, how will HDB draw up the schedule? In other words, which estate is to be upgraded first, second and so on. My last question, Sir, is whether flats of newer estates which have suffered from poor workmanship could also be included in the upgrading programme?

Mr Dhanabalan: Mr Speaker, Sir, we have at present more than half a million HDB flats that have been sold. Even though not all will have to be upgraded to the same extent it is still a massive exercise. I expect the programme to take at least 15 years. As to how we will schedule or which estates will be considered for upgrading first, this is a detail that is being worked out. Obviously, in the initial years, we will have to have a combination of the older estates and some estates which are not so old. I shall be making, Mr Speaker, Sir, in a month or so a full statement on the details of this programme. But I do welcome other questions which I can answer in general at the present moment.

Mr Peh Chin Hua (Jalan Besar GRC): Sir, what about those old shophouses, markets and old lifts? Will they be similarly upgraded too?

Mr Dhanabalan: Sir, yes, the upgrading programme will include many items. It will include the lifts, lift lobbies, wiring in the corridors, putting the wires into conduits etc. It will include the shophouses or shops on the ground floor. All these items will be included in the programme.

Mr Speaker, Sir, I think I forgot to answer a question that was raised by another Member just now about poor workmanship. Can I just take the opportunity to answer this?

Mr Speaker: Yes.

Mr Dhanabalan: I want to, first of all, say that this upgrading exercise is not just an attempt to put right shoddy workmanship. It is not that. Most of the appearance of poor quality that we find in HDB flats today is due to really, I would say, cheap designs and cheap materials. This was what we could afford. We had to house the people. We had to build the houses as cheaply as possible. We could not afford expensive designs and expensive materials. So the priority, as I mentioned just now, was to house them as quickly as possible. Now that people can afford something better we can use better materials and better designs to replace some of the old materials and old designs and that is what this upgrading programme will try to do. Within the flats, most of the poor finishes have, in fact, been attended to by the owners. They have upgraded the flat by laying very nice tiles, putting wall paper, false ceiling, and so on. Little work is needed within the flat, except for the addition, as I said, of bathrooms, toilets, and so on. So a lot of the upgrading will be in the common areas outside the flat - in the corridors, staircases, and so on because this again will help to improve the value of the flat. The value of the flat does not depend just on what is within the flat but also in the environment within the block and between blocks. Many of the items that HDB is now considering, such as introducing common conduits for telephone wires, electrical wires, repairing the staircases to put stainless steel nosings, re-doing the corridors, replacing lifts, improving the lift lobbies, creating a sense of entry into each block - all these will upgrade the value of the flat, and in the process of course some of the poor workmanship will also be rectified. But I do want to emphasize that this programme is not just to put right shoddy workmanship. A lot of what people perceive as poor workmanship is not because it is poor workmanship but we had to use cheap design and cheap materials because that was all the people could afford. We had to sell the flats cheap and that was what we have done.

Dr Low Seow Chay (Chua Chu Kang): Mr Speaker, Sir, I would like to ask two supplementary questions. First, if a person is financially unable to afford the upgrading, does HDB have any special financial scheme to help him to upgrade? Is the Minister considering allowing CPF to be used for the cost of upgrading? The second question is, what will happen if some residents do not wish to take part in this upgrading scheme? Does he need to move out from the flat?

Mr Dhanabalan: Mr Speaker, as I have mentioned, the cost of this exercise or programme will be shared between the Government, Town Councils and the owners. We hope to work out some loan scheme for the owners, and these loans can be repaid over a period of time in cash.

As to whether CPF can be used, this again is a subject we are considering. I will certainly be discussing with my colleague, the Minister for Labour, who is usually very reluctant to allow CPF to be used for various purposes. But I hope to persuade him to allow CPF to be used for this purpose. So we are in the process of working out the details of some special scheme which will make it easy for people to pay their share of the cost of this upgrading.

As to what will happen to those who do not want to upgrade, the upgrading, as I said, will be of various types. For upgrading within the flat, obviously the flat owner will usually have the last say. For example, if he does not want to upgrade the sanitary fittings in his bathroom, so be it. He is prepared to accept whatever is there. We will not force him to upgrade. But certain improvements, for example, adding an additional bathroom, will have to involve everybody in the block. You cannot have somebody saying, "I don't want a bathroom." I think in such cases we will have to go on the basis of the majority. I think Members will be aware that in the case of the management corporations in private condominiums, if not more than 25% of the people living in that estate object to changes and improvements, it can be proceeded with. In other words, in order to stop an improvement, at least 25% must object to the improvement. We have not decided what ratio we should use. We can either adopt two-thirds, 75%, or simple majority. I think this will have to depend upon the type of improvement. Improvements in a block outside the flat, obviously, if more than 50% agree, we may have to proceed with the work; similarly for improvements between blocks. So I think different levels of support will have to be required for different types of improvements. These are details that are being worked out.

Dr S. Vasoo (Tiong Bahru GRC): I wish to ask two supplementary questions, Sir? How would the HDB flat owners be charged for the cost of the various improvements, and would the charges be reasonable? Second, where would the pilot projects be implemented and would Tiong Bahru GRC be included?

Mr Dhanabalan: We hope to keep the costs as reasonable as possible. Obviously many types of improvements are possible and we must keep the improvement cost in proportion to the total cost of the flat. That is one of the difficulties of this exercise - to try and get the maximum amount of improvement for the minimum amount of outlay. As I mentioned, the improvements involve some new techniques of construction. What we hope to do is to first try out the construction techniques and determine the cost by doing this in a few vacant blocks. We have selected some blocks in Yishun and in Jurong. Once we have already established what can be done and what it will cost, then we will select a few precincts as demonstration precincts where we can introduce all these changes. I think we would like to select for the initial demonstration project a mix of fairly old estates like Tiong Bahru GRC and some not- so-old estates, maybe 10 years or so. We have not decided when Tiong Bahru will really come in the schedule. But we have to make a very careful selection of the first few demonstration projects based on many criteria. When I have the programme in full, I will be able to give him more details.

Encik Abdul Nasser bin Kamaruddin (Hong Kah GRC): Sir, would the upgrading exercise include the rectification of inherent defects in the flats, such as wall seepage and spalling concrete?

Mr Dhanabalan: Mr Speaker, Sir, there is already an on-going programme to deal with spalling, and that will continue. For wall seepage, I think wherever there have been complaints, HDB has attended to such seepage. Some of the upgrading may involve attending to the roof for example, because we can even change the form of the roof. I cannot give him details now. If the problems are very endemic and they cannot be solved except by, say, putting a new roof, of course that will be done.

Mr Chiam See Tong: Sir, it is reported that there are something like 22,000 fami- lies who are in the poorer end of our society. How will this upgrading affect them? Who will help them?

Mr Dhanabalan: Sir, I think the Member should know that we have many incentives for the poor (those who can afford just a 3-room flat) to buy a 3-room flat. We allow them to book for a 3-room flat without paying any downpayment. We spread out the payments over many years, 20 to 25 years, such that the monthly instalment payment for a 3-room flat is about the same, maybe a dollar or two different from paying rent for a 3-room flat. So those schemes will continue. There will still also be rental flats available. But about 95% of HDB dwellers will, in fact, benefit from this upgrading exercise because the latest figures of application show that nobody wants 3-room flats anymore. They want 4-, 5-room, executive flats. That is the present demand pattern. But for those who cannot afford, and there will always be some, there are rental flats and there will be 3-room flats.