my paper
Tuesday, Jan 10, 2012
Housing issues were a focus in yesterday's parliamentary session, with topics such as resale flats and upgrading being raised.
In a written reply, the Ministry of National Development (MND) said that more than 7,200 flats which had been bought directly from the Housing Board (HDB) were sold between January 2007 and November last year.
The flats, which were sold on the resale market within two years after their five-year Minimum Occupation Period (MOP), formed 9 per cent of such flats that were eligible for resale.
The remaining 91 per cent were not sold or involved in any property transactions.
The statement, made in reply to Dr Lim Wee Kiak, an MP for Nee Soon GRC, also said that 2,883 direct-purchase flats were sublet within the two-year period after MOP completion. Of these, 971 flats were rented out to Singapore permanent residents over the same period.
Senior Parliamentary Secretary for National Development Mohamad Maliki Osman also fielded questions from MPs on whether HDB would consider installing ramps at subsidised cost for elderly or disabled residents.
Dr Maliki explained that such a project would not be feasible, due to space constraints along the corridors of flats. There were also fire-safety issues that had to be taken into consideration.
But he said residents who want to build a ramp at their own cost can submit a request to HDB or the relevant town council, depending on the type of ramp to be installed.
He added that such requests will be evaluated on a case-by- case basis, to ensure that the ramp does not cause "disamenities" to other residents.
Providing an update on the HDB's Home Improvement Programme, Minister of State for National Development Lee Yi Shyan said MND will speed up the initiative to cover 160,000 more flats over the next five years.
He added that the budget for the programme will also be increased by about 20 per cent.
The programme was introduced in 2007 to upgrade older flats and to address maintenance issues. Since then, 5,800 flats have undergone upgrading works.
