TOWN COUNCILS' SINKING FUNDS (Use for Lift Upgrading Programme)

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TOWN COUNCILS' SINKING FUNDS:

(Use for Lift Upgrading Programme): 2.

Dr Amy Khor Lean Suan asked the Minister for National Development if his Ministry will (a) set out some guidelines under which the sinking funds of Town Councils can be used for the Lift Upgrading Programme (LUP); and (b) consider including low-rise walk-up flats in the LUP since the programme is being speeded up.

Mr Mah Bow Tan: Mr Speaker, Sir, the Prime Minister has announced that to meet the needs of our ageing population, we will speed up lift upgrading and try to complete the programme in 10 years for all eligible blocks. He also announced that Town Councils will be allowed to use part of their sinking funds to carry out lift upgrading works, subject to guidelines which MND will announce later. As with HDB's Lift Upgrading Programme, residents will be required to poll and co-pay for the lift upgrading works done by the Town Councils before they can be carried out.

MND will announce the details of the Town Councils' Lift Upgrading Programme during the Committee of Supply debate. We are currently studying the implications of providing lift upgrading for low-rise blocks. Members will be informed if there are any changes to this policy.

Dr Amy Khor Lean Suan: rose ---

Mr Speaker: Dr Khor, keep your supplementary questions short, please.

Dr Amy Khor Lean Suan: Thank you, Sir. I have just one question for the Minister. I would like to ask the Minister, in view of the ageing population and thus the increasingly imminent need for lifts, if

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the Ministry will consider SERS for those four-storey walk-up flats where the installation of lifts simply does not make economic sense due to design and other constraints.

Mr Mah Bow Tan: The SERS programme is a very valuable programme both from the point of view of the State as well as from the residents because the State benefits by being able to maximise the use of scarce land and the residents benefit because they are able to enjoy another subsidised flat plus all the other benefits such as a new 99-year lease and so on. As far as possible, where a site is viable for SERS, we will certainly carry it out, especially where there are low-rise blocks because obviously the intensification in areas where there are low-rise blocks will be that much higher. So the answer is yes, we will certainly do so. But I must caution that not all sites with low-rise blocks are viable for SERS because in some of these areas the low-rise blocks are actually interspersed with high-rise blocks. So we have to be selective about SERS.

Mdm Cynthia Phua (Aljunied): Sir, while the Minister is reviewing the scheme, could he also consider the cut-off period for the eligibility of lift upgrading as well, because this has been set for quite some time and some of the lifts are quite old?

Mr Mah Bow Tan: In effect, we will not be having any more age criteria for lifts because all the flats that were built before 1990, which do not have lifts on every floor, will become eligible. So it is no longer a consideration.