HDB profitted a cool 72m from heavily subsidised BTO flats, HUAT AH!

[SgGoneWrong]

Yesterday, TRE published an article highlighting that new residents moving into HDB BTO flats in Anchorvale Horizon at Seng Kang were complaining about the defects and poor workmanship found in their newly completed flats (‘Complaints against poor workmanship in new HDB flats‘).

It was so bad that the grassroots leaders at Anchorvale Horizon were themselves complaining about the problem too. The grassroots leaders even roped in Seng Kang West MP Lam Pin Min to visit Anchorvale Horizon just to show him how terrible the defects are.

One new resident was so fed-up with the defects in his HDB unit as well as his dealings with HDB that he wrote a long complaint letter and posted it online to inform Singaporeans. He accused HDB of not taking the problem seriously.

One of the major defects mentioned is the flooring. Even after the resident complained and HDB got the contractor to re-lay the floor tiles, the floor remains uneven. The HDB personnel whom the resident liaised with tried to convince him to accept the uneven flooring.

The resident said:

“And the frustrating part is at every meeting, HDB personnel would use the same excuse to try convince us to accept the flooring. And if we do not accept, he would tell us he will ask the contractors to rework again. I found it weird that no matter how lousy someone’s workmanship is, they will not keep repeating the same mistake unless they are real idiots.”

The resident then investigated the problem himself and found that actually, the tiles themselves already have defects. Some of the tiles are not flat and will wobble. Hence, even with good workmanship, the flooring will remain uneven because the tiles themselves are uneven.

He said:

“The tile itself is uneven with some area popping up and yet that HDB personnel kept trying his luck to tell us off. This is a terrible integrity issue and I became very disappointed with HDB.”

This being the case, it’s not known why HDB didn’t detect the poor quality floor tiles used by the contractor.

The resident escalated the issue to higher authorities in HDB. He also escalated it to his Seng Kang West MP Lam Pin Min. Dr Lam acknowledged that others in Anchorvale Horizon had complained too.

The resident said:

“He (MP) came to meet up with me and some other neighbors who had terrible defects even the blind can see. He witnessed for himself and understood why there are so many complaints. Thus he advised that HDB personnel in front of us to check with his higher authorities if they can work out with some reimbursements for owners.”

“But HDB turned a deaf ear to the issue. No follow-up was done with regard to compensations except HDB going back to their old tricks of rectifications after rectifications, hoping one day, you will give up and accept whatever they provide you. Many owners gave up because they had rented flats outside or are getting married.”

With the MP’s intervention, the problem still remains. The resident then resorted to writing to MND and even to the President. However, everything was referred back to HDB and HDB referred the matter back to the same HDB personnel again to deal with the resident.

The resident mentioned that the contractor is from China, a company by the name of “Jing Ye”.

China Jingye Engineering Corporation Limited

TRE went online to do some research on the matter and found that Anchorvale Horizon (BTO project) was launched by HDB in Oct 2010 [Link]. It is located at the junction of Anchorvale Road and Sengkang East Way. It is also a premium contract with 745 units of new flats, comprising 240 units of Studio Apartments, 357 units of 4-room flats and 148 units of 5-room flats. Facilities provided in this development are a mini-mart, an eating house, shops, a child care centre and a Residents’ Committee Centre.

TRE also found that indeed, the contract (SK-N3-C19) to construct 745 units of HDB flats was awarded to the lowest winning bidder, China Jingye Engineering Corporation Limited (Singapore Branch) [Link]. There were 13 bidders and Jingye’s bid was the lowest at $94,777,075. The tender was closed on 11 May 2011 and the contract was awarded to Jingye on 29 Jun 2011 [Link]:

According to its website [Link], Jingye is a Beijing-headquartered, wholly state-owned company of China. It is a subsidiary of Metallurgical Corporation of China Ltd (MCC), which is listed in Hong Kong and Shanghai.

On 17 Mar this year, after Jingye “smoothly completed” the Anchorvale Horizon project and handed the keys over to the residents, it’s parent company MCC issued the following press statement. MCC deemed the project “has not only guaranteed the engineering quality, but also set up a perfect demonstrative model for the other projects” (Jingye’s previous name was CRIBC) [Link]:

“The Sengkang Residential Building Project, which was undertaken by MCC Group Central Research Institute of Building & Construction (CRIBC) in Singapore, was smoothly completed, and the last batch of the apartment keys were handed over to the house owners on March 14, 2014.

As a policy-related housing project invested by the Government of Singapore, it is located in the Third Region of Sengkang. The branch of CRIBC was awarded with the contract for 745 houses (including small apartments) in 7 units, as well as the public facilities such as the playground for the kids, the elderly fitness station and the courtyard. For the construction works, precast concrete units are utilized, including pillar, external wall, elevator-shaft wall panel, stair wall panel,, stair, composite precast floor slab, refuse chute and air-raid shelter, etc.

The property developer is Housing and Development Board (HDB), a governmental organization of Singapore. From the very beginning of this project, the quality rating standard of CONQUAS was employed for the construction work and followed up through the whole process. This has not only guaranteed the engineering quality, but also set up a perfect demonstrative model for the other projects.”

It was also found that in the various projects in Singapore, Jingye’s work-sites had been issued with Stop Work Orders (SWO) by the Manpower Ministry (MOM) [Link] 5 times since 2008:

Mar 2013
Apr 2013
Jun 2011
Aug 2009
Nov 2008
An SWO is issued by MOM in instances where severe lapses in safety and health conditions cause immediate danger to the persons at work. Failure to comply with SWO is considered an offence [Link].

Estimated gross profit for HDB in Anchorvale Horizon project

Based on the selling price of HDB units of Anchorvale Horizon [Link] and the contract value of $94,777,075 for Jingye to build the 745 units, one would be able to estimate the gross profit of HDB for the Anchorvale Horizon project.

Taking the average sale price of each type of HDB units, the revenue generated from each type for HDB is:

Studio I: 120 units x [(75,000 + 82,000)/2 - 40,000] = $4,620,000
Studio II: 120 units x [(95,000 + 104,000)/2 - 40,000] = $7,140,000
4-room: 357 units x [(227,000 + 344,000) /2 - 10,000]= $98,353,500
5-room: 148 units x [(344,000 + 426,000) /2 - 0] = $56,980,000
(On average, 2-room or studio apt owner can enjoy govt grant of $40K. For 3-room flat owner – $30K and 4-room flat owner – $10K. 5-room flat owner on average does not enjoy any govt grant [Link]. Not that govt grant is only for 1st-time owner. We assume all are first time buyers.)

Hence, total estimated revenue generated from Anchorvale Horizon project for HDB = $167,093,500

Then, estimated gross profit generated from Anchorvale Horizon project for HDB = $167,093,500 – $94,777,075 = $72,316,425

Given that HDB is making a sizeable gross profit from the Anchorvale Horizon project, why can’t HDB accede to the requests from the new residents to pay them some compensations for the defects in their units so that they can get their own contractor to rectify the problems? This is especially so since Jingye is not able to rectify the defects or HDB is unable to supervise its contractor Jingye to do a proper job.

 

[palden]

Hohoho. Tofu apartments coming to Stinkapore. Lucky here no earthquake. Never mind la. Stinkees are used to getting screwed. Who is the MP? Should join wayang party la. All those HDB tech officers chobolan wan. Mostly rejects from the industry. Cannot handle main con.

 

[bakkuttay]

They need to construct an extra extra large table top to cater for that many extra hands under the table.

 

[neddy]

How come Singapore HDB cannot give warranty for expensive purchase like housing.
In OZ, new houses got 6 months defect fix, 6 years warranty and 25 year structural.

My cold hot tap came with 5 years warranty and the maker replace it free after it leaks.
They told me that the China factory did not detect the defect. The one they replaced is designed in Melbourne by a Taiwanese and manufactured in a better quality assured factory. 15 years warranty!

 

[halsey02]

How come Singapore HDB cannot give warranty for expensive purchase like housing.
In OZ, new houses got 6 months defect fix, 6 years warranty and 25 year structural.

My cold hot tap came with 5 years warranty and the maker replace it free after it leaks.
They told me that the China factory did not detect the defect. The one they replaced is designed in Melbourne by a Taiwanese and manufactured in a better quality assured factory. 15 years warranty!

In SINgapore the buyers come with a lifetime warranty...not the unit they bought....they give the seller in this case HDB & the PAP government, a lifetime warranty in payment..through their CPF!!

They do not give much warranty to the buyers for what they sell them...we have such stupid people voting here!

 

[johnny333]

With the PRC companies coming in expect the "quality" to go down. HDB can always shorten the upgrade cycle to ensure that upgrades are done before these buildings collapse

 

[winnipegjets]

Built by China spells trouble. Lots of compromise on quality to generate profits. HDB flats built by Chinese firms should have lower value. It is a matter of time before one of those Build By Chinese (BBC) blocks collapse.

 

[Scrooball (clone)]

The reasoning is that when u 'buy' a HDB flat, you don't own it. What u did was rent it for 99years

 

[kezgtree]

Built by China spells trouble. Lots of compromise on quality to generate profits. HDB flats built by Chinese firms should have lower value. It is a matter of time before one of those Build By Chinese (BBC) blocks collapse.

...I 2nd that, in here we have the tech. officer to chk rebars..and no matter how low the standard is.... is it way many times better than in tiong or ah neh country...iirc the only building that went down was after they put a few cooling tower on the roof...and properly did some modification to the column...that was an A & A job.

 

[Papsmearer]

How come Singapore HDB cannot give warranty for expensive purchase like housing.
In OZ, new houses got 6 months defect fix, 6 years warranty and 25 year structural.

My cold hot tap came with 5 years warranty and the maker replace it free after it leaks.
They told me that the China factory did not detect the defect. The one they replaced is designed in Melbourne by a Taiwanese and manufactured in a better quality assured factory. 15 years warranty!

The warranty is only given to the owner of the property, not the tenant. In this case HDB gets the warranty because they are the owners. Knowing HDB, they are in bed with the developers/contractors. HDB should be withholding a portion of the payment until all the defects have been settled. And they should push the builder to settle them as soon as possible. But if the HDB personnel have been receiving KTV cheonging from the builder and free trips to China, and free pros, etc. than the likelihood of HDB pushing the builder is very remote. That is why u have the unusual case of HDB trying to defend the builder and telling the flat dwellers to fuck off. Actually, since HDB is the actual owner, I would imagine that they should be even more concerned about the defects than these lemmings who paid for it.

 

[frenchbriefs]

How come Singapore HDB cannot give warranty for expensive purchase like housing.
In OZ, new houses got 6 months defect fix, 6 years warranty and 25 year structural.

My cold hot tap came with 5 years warranty and the maker replace it free after it leaks.
They told me that the China factory did not detect the defect. The one they replaced is designed in Melbourne by a Taiwanese and manufactured in a better quality assured factory. 15 years warranty!

bro i sell u a mouse made in china bought from taobao for $4.99.i sell u in my sim lim shop for 39.90.tell u got 2 year warranty....if spoil never mind i simply throw u another made in china mouse that cost me 3 to 4.99......i call my shop new zealand hardware store.....u praise me skyhigh.....i make 1000% profit margin....win win.

 

[Dragonhead]

With the MP’s intervention, the problem still remains. The resident then resorted to writing to MND and even to the President. However, everything was referred back to HDB and HDB referred the matter back to the same HDB personnel again to deal with the resident.

Playing bola, lah. Why bother when you can pass the bola around and still get your salary and allowance every month?

 

[Dragonhead]

“The tile itself is uneven with some area popping up and yet that HDB personnel kept trying his luck to tell us off. This is a terrible integrity issue and I became very disappointed with HDB.”

Looks like a case for the CPIB to find out why sub-standard floor tiles were delivered by the suppliers to HDB contractors. Someone doing monkey business to short change the HDB? HDB bodoh bodoh accepted the flooring until the residents complained. Now cat out of the bag. what action next by HDB or CPIB?

 

[Poomer]

The resident should not complain, and instead use his vote wisely. After all, the PRCs are cheaper better and faster, what is a little uneven flooring.

 

[Dragonhead]

....TRE also found that indeed, the contract (SK-N3-C19) to construct 745 units of HDB flats was awarded to the lowest winning bidder, China Jingye Engineering Corporation Limited (Singapore Branch) [Link]. There were 13 bidders and Jingye’s bid was the lowest at $94,777,075. The tender was closed on 11 May 2011 and the contract was awarded to Jingye on 29 Jun 2011.....

Companies from China are well known the world over for monkey business, tainted milk, tainted meat, etc. Cheating is big time game in China.

Surprising HDB supervision was so lax over this Chinese contractor that they could even use sub-standard tiles. Now what can HDB do? This Chinese contractor is likely already homeward bound. Residents are the suckers.

 

[Dragonhead]

......On 17 Mar this year, after Jingye “smoothly completed” the Anchorvale Horizon project and handed the keys over to the residents, it’s parent company MCC issued the following press statement. MCC deemed the project “has not only guaranteed the engineering quality, but also set up a perfect demonstrative model for the other projects” (Jingye’s previous name was CRIBC)...

MCC was obviously bull-shitting with this kind of statement. No independent survey of the completed units was conducted on project completion which would have detected the uneven floorings.

HDB is a simpleton to take this Chinese contractor for granted. You give peanuts to accept lowest tender, you get monkeys. Chinese contractors are famous for cutting corners but if buildings collapse, it is your business. It had happened in China and it will happen in sinkapoo.

 

[soIsee]

Playing bola, lah. Why bother when you can pass the bola around and still get your salary and allowance every month?

Did you ask this same question to any of the Ministars? LoLoLoL

 

[Dragonhead]

.....Given that HDB is making a sizeable gross profit from the Anchorvale Horizon project, why can’t HDB accede to the requests from the new residents to pay them some compensations for the defects in their units so that they can get their own contractor to rectify the problems? This is especially so since Jingye is not able to rectify the defects or HDB is unable to supervise its contractor Jingye to do a proper job.

It is immaterial whether HDB had made money or lose money from the project. Compensation does not do justice to the residents.

HDB must replace all the uneven floorings at NO COST to the affected flat owners and recover it from the Chinese contractor. Blacklist Jingye and all their associated companies to deter all other contractors from same malpractices. Make all contractors to provide performance bond on quality for all future HDB projects.

HDB must be super smart when dealing with these foreigners or they will take HDB for a ride.

 

[Dragonhead]

Did you ask this same question to any of the Ministars? LoLoLoL

Only fools pose the question to the Ministers. See it with your own eyes chukup already.

 

[NoOnEsAwMe]

assuming:
profit 72mil
cost 95mil
profit margin 43%
then hdb and the developer are enjoying good business.

you pay peanuts, you get monkeys.
giving the quote to the lowest bidder - not surprising that they get lower-quality tiles, etc.
tiles with warped edges it is not a defect - it is just of lower quality, i.e. non-"rectified" tiles.

again, cheap labour either means lower quality and/or faster work rate, so they'd most probably just want to get over and be done with it in the shortest possible time. they will not bother to try balance or level out each tile with its neighbour.
it only costs a little bit more for "rectified" tiles, and they had to stinge on this. :o

furthermore, consumers are more picky nowadays. really not surprising that it has cumulated in today's situation.

anyway, these are all cosmetic issues - the real worry would be whether are there any compromises on the structural quality... that would be the real worry!