PASIR RIS NEIGHBOURHOOD 5 (Retention of surface car parks)

Mr Charles Chong asked the Minister for National Development if existing surface car parks will be retained after the completion of multi-storey car parks in Pasir Ris Neighbourhood 5 and if there is any urgent need to use these surface car parks for other purposes.

Mr Lim Hng Kiang (for the Minister for National Development): Sir, as part of its continuing efforts to upgrade and improve the amenities and facilities in its public housing estates, HDB now provides multi-storey car parks instead of surface car parks, wherever possible.

This will make available more green space for landscaping and recreational use by residents.

As a long lead time is necessary to construct multi-storey car parks, HDB provides temporary surface lots in the interim so that residents will not be unduly inconvenienced by a lack of parking space.

The existing surface car parks in Pasir Ris Neighbourhood 5 have been provided as a temporary measure, to meet the immediate parking needs of residents during the transitional period when three new multi-storey car parks are being constructed.

The surface car parks will not be retained after the completion of the multi-storey car parks. Retaining them would result in over provision of car parking facilities. In addition, residents would also be deprived of the additional green space for landscaping and recreational use.

Mr Charles Chong (Eunos GRC): Can the Minister of State explain if there is any urgent need to convert existing surface car parks for recreational space or greenery which is in ample quantity in Pasir Ris already?

Mr Lim Hng Kiang: If the Member claims that there is more than sufficient greenery space, we will go back and re-build some more. I think we must get the facts in place. We have built multi-storey car parks for new housing estates from 1991 onwards. In the transition, while these multi-storey car parks are being provided, we provided surface car park lots as an interim measure. Now that the multi-storey car parks are completed, we will remove the surface car park lots so that we can replace them with greenery and recreational facilities. For example, today in Pasir Ris Neighbourhood 5, we have only provided 525 temporary lots. But with the three multi-storey car park stations, we are providing 1,083 car park lots. So the multi-storey car park lots are intended to meet the needs of the residents, plus future needs in case week-end cars become more popular. At the same time, we free up space for greenery and recreational amenities.

Mr Heng Chiang Meng (Cheng San GRC): Sir, in view of what the Minister of State has said earlier in terms of separate costing for these surface car parks, may I ask, in this case, when these surface car parks are later demolished for green spaces, what is the cost related to these car parks? Will they be written off or will they be added on to the cost of building the multi-storey car parks for the purpose of recovering the capital cost of the multi-storey car parks?

Mr Lim Hng Kiang: Because the surface car parks were not part of the permanent assets of HDB, the costing of the multi-storey car park will entail the land cost and the construction cost of the multi-storey car park. The cost of providing the surface car parks will not be added on to the cost of building the multi-storey car park. Since the surface car parks were provided as an interim measure, these were not taken in the costing of the flats.