COMPENSATIONS FOR FREEHOLD PROPERTIES COMPULSORILY ACQUIRED FOR BARTLEY ROAD EXTENSION

Mr Goh Choon Kang asked the Minister for Law how the compensations for the freehold properties compulsorily acquired for the proposed Bartley Road extension and proposed expansion of the Central Expressway/Braddell Road Interchange were arrived at.

Prof. S. Jayakumar: The Bartley Road extension project was gazetted for acquisition on 10th December 1998 and the Central Expressway/Braddell Road Interchange project was gazetted for acquisition on 21st December 1998.

The statutory compensation was arrived at in accordance with the provisions of the Land Acquisition Act. The Act provides that the compensation to land owners should be based on the value of the land as at 1st January 1995 or the date of publication of the declaration for acquisition whichever is the lower. In both these cases, the market value of the properties at the date of gazette was lower than the value at 1st January 1995. Therefore the statutory compensation is based on the market value of the properties at 10th December 1998 and 21st December 1998 respectively, as determined professionally by the Chief Valuer.

As Government's professional valuer, the Chief Valuer assesses the value of a property in accordance with the provisions of the Land Acquisition Act and accepted valuation principles. He takes into account recent sales evidence of similar properties in the vicinity to determine the statutory compensation for the acquired property. He also inspects every property.

In addition to the statutory compensation as provided by the Land Acquisition Act, Government will also grant ex-gratia payment to landowners who face financial hardship arising from the acquisition. They will have to submit their requests to Land Office. A Ministry of Law Appeals Committee will assess the owners' request for ex-gratia payment on a case by case basis. Ex-gratia will be assessed based on the merits of each case.