S. Dhanabalan
Singapore
“Mr Speaker, Sir, on a point of clarification. I said in my intervention on Tuesday that the general election is the right forum to determine the electorate's support because it puts the issue in a total and correct context.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, with hindsight, of course, we can be very wise. But since one of the three islands was excluded, it was a substantial reduction in the scope of works. The assessment then, which I agreed with, was that if you called for a re-tender, you would get a substantially reduced tender.”
“To the extent that we can, we should work with countries that have a common interest, to come together and form economic groupings targeted at trade liberalisation. We have started this process within ASEAN under the AFTA Scheme. Economic linkages in groupings like APEC are also growing in significance.”
“Mr Speaker, all these questions make a lot of sense when the events are finished, and you look back. But the officer looking at the case at that time had to deal with the facts as they were at that time.”
“ASEAN countries agreed to publish all the Inclusions and Exclusions lists, as well as the full list of actual tariff reductions. The ASEAN Secretariat had since followed up and released, as scheduled, on 1st November 1993, the publications showing these lists.”
“Kallang Theatre was closed for five months in 1992 for cyclical maintenance and upgrading costing $3 million. This included a major upgrading of the toilets, recarpeting the auditorium, rewiring and repainting.”
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“However, no one should abuse the resettlement compensation system, or collude with public officers to cheat the taxpayers. There must be absolute honesty on the part of both Government officers and the public. What is at stake is not just the money defrauded, but also the integrity of the system of government. The public must impose the same high standard of integrity on itself as it would on the Government. It cannot expect to cheat the State and get away with it. The Government will relentlessly pursue those who have been dishonest and bring the full rigour of the law to bear on them to recover the misappropriated public funds and bring the culprits to justice. BILLS INTRODUCED HOUSING AND DEVELOPMENT (AMENDMENT) BILL "to amend the Housing and Development Act (Chapter 129 of the 1985 Revised Edition)", presented by the Senior Minister of State for National Development (Dr Lee Boon Yang); read the First time; to be read a Second time on the next available sitting of Parliament, and to be printed. PREVENTION OF CORRUPTION (AMENDMENT) BILL "to amend the Prevention of Corruption Act (Chapter 241 of the 1985 Revised Edition)", presented by the Minister for Law (Prof. S. Jayakumar); read the First time; to be read a Second time on the next available sitting of Parliament, and to be printed. JUDGES' REMUNERATION (AMENDMENT) BILL "to amend the Judges' Remuneration Act (Chapter 147 of the 1985 Revised Edition)", presented by the Minister of State for Finance (BG George Yong-Boon Yeo); read the First time; to be read a Second time on the next available sitting of Parliament, and to be printed. CENTRAL PROVIDENT FUND (AMENDMENT NO.”
“My Ministry has accepted these recommendations, and is implementing them immediately. They include the following measures: Firstly, new guidelines for classifying squatters as farmers and assessing the amount of compensation for fruit trees; and Secondly, revised procedures for census-taking, compensation assessment and computation. For example, census officers will now photograph every item of improvement at the time of census taking, and will verify all claims against records held by other Government departments, such as the Land Office, Building Control Division, and Primary Production Department, before making payments. MND has set up a task force together with CPIB to review every resettlement case since 1979. Where there is evidence of cheating or wrongdoing, prosecution will follow. So far, 43 squatters have been prosecuted. In 21 cases, charges were withdrawn after they had made full restitution. One case pleaded guilty and was sentenced to eight months' imprisonment. Government policies on resettlement and compensation have been generous and fair. The Government pays adequate and equitable compensation to ease the disruption of those affected by resettlement. The amount depends on the type and value of property owned, and whether the squatters' livelihood is affected by clearance action. Compensation rates have beenreviewed every few years. During the last review in 1985, compensation rates were increased by 30% across the board. Over the last five years, resettlement compensation payments have cost taxpayers more than $1.4 billion ($1,400 million). 64% of this vast sum of money was paid to resettled farmers. On average, each farmer received $122,000. The payment of such large compensation was necessary to clear land for development expeditiously.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, between February and September 1987, I received a number of anonymous complaints alleging that squatters affected by public clearance schemes had cheated the HDB's Resettlement Department in their claims for resettlement compensation. I referred these complaints to the Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau (CPIB) for investigation. The Bureau reported that it too was receiving complaints of the same nature. CPIB investigations confirmed these allegations and revealed that cheating on resettlement compensation was widespread. So far, more than 600 squatters have admitted to over-claiming resettlement compensation. In many cases, the amounts over-claimed exceeded $10,000 each. 199 squatters have agreed to make full restitution amounting to more than $1 million. The most common abuse is the planting of fruit trees after the cut-off date, solely in order to claim extra compensation. Often the fruit tree seedlings were planted so closely together that they could have served no other purpose than to cheat the Resettlement Department. Other squatters fraudulently claimed to be farmers to qualify for farmer resettlement benefits. Squatters succeeded in this fraud because Resettlement Department was less than vigilant in detecting abuses and because some resettlement officers were corrupt. The Department continued to use outdated procedures and guidelines, and to rely on controls which were no longer effective. The CPIB has also found evidence of collusion between squatters and some resettlement officers to cheat the Department. One officer has been charged in court. Several others are still under investigation. The CPIB and the Auditor-General's Office have recommended changes to rectify the weaknesses in the resettlement compensation system.”
“Question put, and agreed to Resolved, That this Parliament, pursuant to section 3 of the Departmental Titles (Alteration) Act (Chapter 77), resolves that the Schedule to the said Act be amended by the addition under the headings of "Old Title or Name of Office" and "New Title or Name of Office" respectively of the following: Old Title or New Title or Name of Office Name of Office Deputy Director (Development Director-General of and Building Control), Public Works. Public Works Department CIVIL LIST”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, I beg to move the motion* standing in my name as item 8 in the Order Paper. *The motion reads as follows: That this Parliament, pursuant to section 3 of the Departmental Titles (Alteration) Act (Chapter 77), resolves that the schedules to the said Act be amended by the addition under the headings of "Old Title or Name of Office" and "New Title or Name of Office" respectively of the following: Old Title or Name of Office New Title or Name of Office Deputy Director (Development Director-General of Public and Building Control), Works. Public Works Department Mr Speaker, Sir, during the drafting of the Building Control Bill, my Ministry decided that the Director-General of the Public Works will be in a better position to marshal the necessary technical resources within the department in discharging the duties of the Building Authority. Hence, in clause 2 of the Buliding Control Bill, "Building Authority" has been defined to mean the Director-General of Public Works. Besides the Building Control Bill (which is now the Building Control Act), the term "Building Authority" also appears in other Acts and Subsidiary Legislation. The definition of the "Building Authority" in the Architects Act and the Local Government Integration Act will be amended by clause 55 of the Building Control Act. In line with the aforesaid change, this amendment to the Schedule to the Departmental Titles (Alteration) Act (Chapter 77) will enable the Law Revision Commissioners to effect the change in the definition of the "Building Authority" wherever it appears in the Revised Edition of Subsidiary Legislation. Sir, I beg to move.”
“It is an offence. Dr Tan Cheng Bock: An offence has been committed. If I can prove to you that my tank was not topped up in JB, will I be excused? If you want to impose this rule, then you must be prepared to implement this in a fair manner. Your assumption that Singaporeans going to JB to buy petrol may not be totally true. Why should I inconvenience myself to pump up my petrol tank just to satisfy you? An hon. Member: It is inconvenient.”
“But I think this is a view that we ought to think about carefully. Do we want to continue to depend upon others to look after us? Or do we think that we are ready to look after our own interests? And, if necessary, force our society to throw up leaders who would look after our interest. I am in favour of the proposals made in the Bill. I would even go further - I think it is about time we took the steps to become a mature people.”
“But even if it were so, even if it were the case, that the cream of our society, some of the best educated in our society, some of the leaders of our society, do not have the courage, sense of justice, the gumption, the spine, to do what is right and not what will please the Government, even if it were so, I would still support the proposal to cut ourselves off from the Privy Council. Because if we, as a society and as a people, can only have people at the very top of this calibre, of this lack of a sense of justice, of courage, then we as a people deserve our fate. Do we still want to be tied, as the Member for Potong Pasir said, to the apron strings of the British? Do we want others to look after our interests? Or do we think that we are mature enough people to look after our own interests? And that if we cannot look after our own interest, we should throw up people within our own society who would look after our interests. How long do we want others to look after our interests? How long do we want others to ensure that the quality of justice in Singapore is what we as a people deserve? I say that if we cannot stand up as a people after 25 years of independence, then we deserve our fate. My view is that we should be completely cut off immediately for all appeals to Privy Council. But I can see why some interim measures are needed; that this cannot be done away with immediately. I think the suggestion that the Member for Potong Pasir made is a good one, that we should have a substitute, maybe a full-time Court of Appeal. And that certainly I am sure is something that my colleague, the Minister for Law, and the Cabinet will look into. But that does not mean that we should not already take steps to be a truly independent people. I know I am expressing a layman's view.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, let me speak on this Bill basically as a layman and to give some of my personal views. I have listened to some of the arguments here in the House, both from our own Backbenchers as well as from Members of the Opposition, as well as the views which others outside the House have, since the Bill was published, expressed to me. I think the views expressed are a mix of relief that the appeal to the Privy Council has not been completely cut off and fears that the change proposed will affect the quality of justice in Singapore. I am personally very surprised that after almost 25 years as an independent nation, our minds seem to be still shackled and we still expect others to protect our interests and to ensure a high quality of justice in Singapore. What is the unspoken fear, the underlying thought behind these various reservations? I think the unspoken fear is this: that we do not have men of competence and knowledge, of integrity, character, men with a strong sense of justice to ensure that our courts deliver judgments which are in accordance with the highest standards of justice and fair play. I think this may be putting it very bluntly. But I think this is the unspoken fear. The fear is that our judges or magistrates are constantly looking over their shoulders to assess what would please the Government and therefore their judgments are coloured by this desire to please the Government. I think that is the thought behind all the nice arguments and words, diplomatic words, that we have heard. I think this is not the case with our magistrates and with our judges.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, I have informed Members that sites vacated as a result of relocation exercise will be redeveloped in accordance with HDB's overall public housing development programme. Redevelopment will take place first in new towns where there are on-going building programmes. The Central Area will be redeveloped more slowly in order to tie in with the comprehensive urban planning with a view to maximizing the long-term potential value of the land. In the case of the blocks around Strathmore Avenue in Queenstown, HDB originally scheduled to redevelop the vacated blocks in mid-1990. HDB will review the schedule and see if this can still be accommodated within the slower pace of redevelopment now envisaged. HANYU PINYIN NAMES (Particulars) 15. Mr Peh Chin Hua asked the Minister for Home Affairs (a) what is the percentage of children born in 1986, 1987 and 1988 who have Hanyu Pinyin names in their birth certificates; and (b) what is the percentage of children who have registered for their identity cards using Hanyu Pinyin names for the years 1986, 1987 and 1988.”
“Sir, we should be making available some lots which are already available in the course of this year but new sites will have to be identified over the course of the next three years. VACATED HDB BLOCKS AROUND STRATHMORE AVENUE (Redevelopment) 14. Mr Chay Wai Chuen asked the Minister for National Development if plans are already finalized for redevelopment of the vacated Housing and Development Board blocks around Strathmore Avenue which are affected by relocation exercise phase 1A.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, Government philosophy is that operations of trailers are strictly commercial undertakings like bus operations. Trailer owners should make their own arrangements for parking space just as bus operations, for example, SBS, TIBS and tourist buses have. The public sector itself provides only a few lots. URA has 411 lots at Marina South for temporary use. PSA has another 260. The number of trailers registered in Singapore has doubled between 1983 and now to about 8,400. To alleviate the shortage of parking facilities, the Ministry will identify vacant land near the port or industrial areas to be leased out to private operators for trailer parking. I will also ask JTC to identify such land within its industrial estates for use as trailer parks.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, 331 cases in Nee Soon Constituency are still waiting to be resettled. This includes 102 families, 23 farmers, 53 shops, 9 temples, one mosque, 30 workshops and 113 offices. These cases are scheduled to be cleared by March 1990. SPITTING AND LITTERING OFFENCES 4. Dr Koh Lam Son asked the Minister for the Environment if he will give the number of spitting and littering offences for the years 1986, 1987 and 1988. The Senior Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for the Environment (Mr Eugene Yap Giau Cheng) (for the Minister for the Environment): On behalf of my Minister, Sir. The number of tickets issued for littering and spitting offences in the past three years was as follows: Year Littering Spitting 1986 7,816 128 1987 7,783 113 1988 6,154 83”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, yes. As I said, 3- and 4-room flats will be converted into 5-room and Executive Apartment flats. So this will involve some amalgamation. There will be no special conditions because these converted flats will be almost the same in size as the standard 5-room and Executive apartments, maybe a little bigger. NEE SOON SOUTH (Completion of resettlement) 3. Dr Koh Lip Lin asked the Minister for National Development (a) how many families, farms, shops and temples in Nee Soon South are still waiting to be resettled; and (b) when will the resettlement be completed.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, 200 3-room flats and 20 4-room flats at Block 629 Bedok Reservoir Road are being converted to 58 5-room flats and 52 Executive Apartments. The conversion is expected to be completed and ready for occupation by early 1990. No conversion works will be carried out at Block 611 at Bedok Reservoir Road. HDB plans to upgrade the internal finishes of the 4- and 5-room flats in this block to current standards. The upgrading will be completed before the end of 1989.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, we will try and expedite to the extent that it is possible to do such things. EUNOS GRC (Building of new schools) 2. Encik Zulkifli bin Mohammed asked the Minister for Education what is the latest status on the building of new schools in the Eunos Division of the Eunos GRC.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, the Ministry of National Development is preparing a plan to guide the long term development of the Ayer Rajah area bounded by Clementi Road, Pasir Panjang Road, the railway line and Alexandra Road. In this plan, we will take advantage of the special assets of the area, ie, the National University of Singapore, Science Park, the greenery and hilly terrain of the area. We will develop the area for medium density housing, business parks and some commercial development. The former Mindef Camp is earmarked for medium density housing and the land next to Buona Vista MRT Station will be zoned for commercial and residential development to take advantage of the proximity to the MRT Station.”
“Sir, if we are afraid of competition we would not have had the concept of NCMP.”
“Sir, I think the Member has answered himself in the quotations. First of all, we do not provide an office because he has no constituency to look after. Secondly, the quotation that he had of the Prime Minister's undertaking here in Parliament obviously applies to what happens in Parliament. The NCMP has got all the rights, duties and privileges, obligations, except to vote on money bills and that applies to what happens in Parliament. Why does the NCMP want an office to be provided at Government's expense? Which constituency is he looking after?”
“Of course, they must be at a cost. Nothing is for free. I would just like to make one clarification on this question of leaks in ceilings. A lot of the problems in the past where people have complained about leaking ceilings in HDB flats has been due to the fact that in order to repair the leaking ceiling on the 9th floor you have to deal with the tenant who is living on the 10th floor. And if you can't get the two of them to cooperate, then of course the ceiling is never repaired because the leak in fact is caused by events or actions by somebody on the 10th floor. In the past HDB had allowed the two persons concerned to work out for themselves. But from now onwards HDB will use its rights under the lease to make sure that the repairs are done and, if necessary, do the repairs and charge the people concerned.”
“Sir, since these blocks have been sold, I would say that the general principle is that if they want to and they are prepared to pay for it, HDB will certainly try and see how it can be done. They were sold without lifts and now they want a lift. If they want to and they are prepared to pay for it, HDB can design and see whether it can be done. I think that is a fair approach. An hon. Member: At a cost.”
“Many of them the result of the establishment of Town Councils because Town Councils now take over the maintenance of HDB areas. HDB in the first instance tries to deploy them to other jobs. It is only where we cannot employ them in any other jobs that they are asked to resign, and there are of course the usual benefits given to such people depending upon their length of service with the HDB. As regards income ceiling, we find that the $4,000 limit covers about 90% of the population. A labour force survey showed that 90% of the families earned $4,000 or less. But if the need arises for us to reconsider this limit and increase it, certainly we will do so.”
“So it is easy to create gardens but you must get the residents who are prepared to take on the responsibility to look after and maintain these areas. I am aware that this is a request from some residents and some MPs and HDB will be prepared to allow some sort of gardens where people can pursue it as a hobby but they must be prepared to look after it themselves. I come to the subject on shophouses for sale. The first phase of sale is only to cover new shops and the response so far has been good. Mr Peh mentioned that some of the tenders were high. That is the assessment of the market rate. We cannot tell the tenderers, "Please don't tender so high." We leave it to the market to determine what the rate should be. It is only in the second phase that we will sell shops which are at present occupied. In the programme, of course, we have to consider some sort of special consideration for sitting tenants. We have not worked out the details. It will come much later. In the first instance we just concentrate on selling new shops. HDB is also prepared to set aside land within HDB new towns and other areas for sale to private developers to build shopping centres, not to replace HDB shops but to complement the shops built by HDB. So this is again something that is in hand. The last point was raised by Dr Lee Siew-Choh on grants. How many flats were sold at a loss? I cannot tell him off-hand. If he wants to put a question he can. I would also suggest that he reads the Hansard of the Budget debate last year where I went into this in some detail and provided some tables which showed the different types of flats and the losses sustained by the HDB on the different types of flats. As to the posts that have been deleted, many of them are DRE posts.”
“I also agree with him that they should be put to recreational use, that they should be levelled, cleaned up, so that young children can kick a ball and play around in this area. In fact, one of the things that I notice is that as you drive through the HDB estates there are a lot of green areas but nobody plays on them. The reason is very simple. They look nice and green from a distance but when you try walking on them you will find that there are full of pot holes or there are stones and pieces of steel left over from construction and so on. The HDB tries to get contractors to clean up when they finish construction, but we will have to do it a little more vigorously and ensure that areas are well cleaned. I have already instructed the departments concerned, both HDB and the Parks and Recreation Department, to ensure that these areas are cleaned, levelled, so that they are used by people. We do not want to see large tracks of nice green areas which are not used by people. But they may not be up to the standard of a playing field because that will involve very heavy investment in drainage. But they should be available at least for use during the dry weather. Here again, I think Town Councils can do a great job in making good use of these areas and if Town Councils approach the HDB, they will of course clean up the areas and give it to the Town Councils and they may have to maintain it. The question of gardens also was raised. Here again we are quite open to the suggestion provided Residents' Committees or Town Councils are prepared to look after them. I think the fruit trees that have been planted in HDB areas, have not shown that not all of them are being well looked after.”
“Members who have been to some of the new flats will note that the staircases, for example, are all precast in factories with stainless steel nosings and so on. They are well made up to very high specifications and then they are installed in the blocks. As far as possible, we should try and do this. The construction industry in Singapore as a whole is rather behind in the use of prefabricated parts. I am not talking about prefabricated construction, but conventional construction using parts made in factories so that they are made to very high specifications. There is no need to set up a new permanent supervisory unit. There are departments within the HDB that now carry out supervision. They have their checklist. They will do their jobs more rigorously. In fact, the Estates Department in the HDB will now be treated as a buyer of property from the construction department, and if the construction department does not deliver up to quality the Estates Department will not take delivery and they will not take possession to sell or rent. We are trying to have different departments in the HDB to be responsible for different functions. Encik Wan Hussin also raised the question of vacant lands. These vacant lands are meant to meet unforeseen and new needs. It is not possible for me to give an undertaking that they will all be used within a certain definite period. We have deliberately set aside vacant lands within HDB areas. They can meet institutional needs or they can even meet new type of housing needs which we are not able to foresee at the present moment. So these lands will be left vacant. But I entirely agree with him that we should put them into good interim use. As long as interim use does not involve the construction of anything permanent we should allow.”
“So all this means additional cost and people must be prepared to pay for this additional cost. Whether this can also be provided in the old blocks by retrofitting, that is again something which we have to look into. In some cases, it can be done. In other cases, it cannot. As regards spalling, yes we attend to those who complained first. But it is not the intention that we will leave the others out. After all the complaints have been dealt with, HDB will in fact be doing an island-wide programme where they will ask residents to give them indications as to whether there is spalling problem within their flats. This will be the next phase. So HDB residents will be informed individually and all unreported cases would be covered. I do not know where the idea of a cut-off date was obtained by the Member. If Mr Chew could let me know, I will be glad to correct that. I think as it stands now, there is no cut-off date. We hope to finish this whole programme in about five years. On quality of construction, Encik Wan Hussin is right. During the boom, close supervision was not possible and that is why we had quite a lot of problems with quality. This affects not only HDB but also the private sector. I receive many complaints from residents or owners of private homes and condominiums that quality is very poor. It is basically due to the fact that we were using unskilled labour and supervisors were in short supply. But all these things will now be corrected because we are building less flats, as I said, maybe 10,000-15,000 per year at the most. And this gives the HDB a greater opportunity to insist on quality. Many new quality control procedures have been introduced. Some of the more problematic parts of construction are now dealt with by having those parts produced in factories.”
“I must sound a note of caution to MPs in that it is not possible to please everybody in the type of facilities you put in the void decks. You will find completely opposite requests being made. There are people who come along and say, "Please provide seats and tables in the void deck." You provide the seats and tables. The very next week you get people coming and complaining to you that the young chaps sit down there up to 12-1.00 o'clock in the morning playing music and they cannot sleep. Please remove the seats and tables. It is not possible to please everybody. So if you get requests, please think very carefully. In fact, I have already instructed HDB not to provide any more resident corners or tables and chairs until the MP requests for it after consulting the residents in the area. We do not want to spend money providing facilities which some people ask and the very next day others come and complain that we should not have provided because it is a nuisance. So please think carefully before you react to all the requests that you get when you go on your house-to-house visits. As regards retrofitting of blocks in order to provide lifts on every floor, the HDB is looking into this question. We are aware that we have an ageing population and we may have to provide more lift landings. But I must again caution that this will mean extra investment, more costs. Every lift landing and door means extra cost and it also means that you may have to put in additional lifts. Because if you have a 12-storey block or a 15-storey block, then two lifts may not be sufficient if they stop on every floor. You will have to wait very long before you get a lift to the floor that you want, whereas now with staggered lift openings, you can get a lift to the lift landing much faster.”
“I have already told HDB and they will be prepared to sell sites. But it follows, of course, that anybody who bids or buys these sites to build a wet market will want to get something in return for his investment. And you would not then have stalls at $40 or $60 per stall. So stalls will have to be bigger. The stallholder or shopkeeper will have to sell a higher volume and a wider variety in order to recover the rent. That is why, in fact, in the dry markets, the number of shops is less. But the atmosphere is very local in the dry markets. It is not a supermarket kind of atmosphere. It is a village kind of atmosphere. There is a lot of to-ing and fro-ing, people meeting and talking. In fact, I would say it is an up-market wet market. Regarding Chai Chee, the same policy will apply. In the case of Chai Chee Market, what we are concerned is to provide facilities for the residents there so that they have enough shops to buy what they want. If Chai Chee Market has to be replaced, it will be replaced either with a private wet market or with a dry market of the type that we have in Bukit Batok which will be adequate to provide for their needs. But I must stress that HDB's approach in this will be to ensure that there are adequate shopping facilities, adequate shops, to cater to the needs of the residents in the area. We are not trying to pursue some very purist approach that everybody must do their shopping in supermarkets. That is not the intention at all. Regarding better use of void decks, rock gardens and other such facilities which people ask for, this is where I think the town councils will have a lot to do. You can do what you want in the town council. If you have the money, you can plan each town council area to be quite different.”
“These shops are, in fact, large lock-up stalls where the stallholder or the shopkeeper can have his refrigerator, his preparation area and so on. In some cases, they are large enough for the shopkeeper to sublet counters for others to sell. In that sense, they have become a kind of wet market. But each shopkeeper takes care of the area within his shop. Although they sell fish, meat and so on, they tend to be cleaner because the shopfloor is his. He has to maintain it and so he maintains it clean, whereas in the wet market, it is all part of the common area. Nobody bothers and it is always wet. In fact, the dry markets do provide what the housewife needs at reasonable prices. In fact, when I visited Bukit Batok, I spoke to some of the housewives and asked them about the prices and they said, "It is quite reasonable." Of course, it will vary from place to place. But the number of shops, of course, are not the same. You may not have 20 stalls selling fish, maybe 5. To that extent, of course, the choice is less than in the present wet markets. However, we do ensure that in the tendering out of dry markets there are sufficient stalls which sell Muslim food. This is a requirement. But I must say that in a number of cases, the number of shops or stalls which have been reserved for Muslim food have not been taken up. If we reserve three, maybe one or two are taken up. And maybe, as the Member, Encik Wan Hussin, pointed out, this could be due to the high rentals. We will have to consider how we can tackle this problem. If people want the traditional wet markets, as far as HDB is concerned, it is prepared to sell sites to anybody who wants to build a wet market and rent out the stalls in the wet market to stallholders.”
“There are ongoing cyclical repairs to all blocks. These cyclical repairs include roof repairs, lift repairs and so on. I think other Members raised the question of lifts being replaced. I might as well state here now that there is a definite cyclical programme of repairing lifts and replacing lift cars. In fact, in the older housing blocks, although the lift may be still in the same place, the lift itself has long ago been replaced. Parts are replaced and the whole lift cars are replaced. In fact, in the older estates, what is just left is the lift core and the rails along which the lifts run. Everything else including the motor are replaced over a cyclical programme. In the case of those estates which are going to be taken over by the town council, if the time has come for the lifts to be replaced, they will be replaced. If the lifts are to be replaced according to this programme in one or two years' time, of course, they will not be replaced. But, as was mentioned yesterday, there will be grants to town councils for them to carry out such cyclical repairs and replacements and they should use these grants for such purposes. Now I come to the question of wet markets, Mr Speaker, Sir. It has attracted a lot of attention. Everybody wants wet markets to be built again. In fact, the point was made that the new dry markets are no different from the wet markets. If that is so, I think there should be no complaints. In fact, I was surprised. I think if Members have the time and if they want to, we can arrange for them to visit some of the new housing estates where we have what we call "dry markets". These are really shops built around a kind of square or an area which is turfed, with trees.”
“But the intention is that enough 1- and 2-room flats will be reserved for people who are relocated from the present 1- and 2-room rental blocks and who cannot afford to buy flats. There is no intention to force everybody to buy. We are aware that there are people who cannot buy for various reasons and we will give them alternative 1- and 2-room flats as close as possible to the areas where they are now living. It is not always possible to give them something very close, but we will try our best. He said that the facilities in the estate are inadequate, especially in that they do not provide the kind of facilities required for the older and more ageing population. HDB, in fact, is now in the process of revamping some of the facilities to provide for such facilities like ramps along steps, handrails and so on. In fact, in the Tiong Bahru GRC, 16 blocks have already been provided with these new facilities. So this is an ongoing process and it will continue. He also asked whether lifts can be provided for low-rise blocks. At present, it is not the policy. Even in private housing estates, for 3- or 4-storey blocks, there are no lifts. It is just not cost effective to provide lifts for such low-rise blocks. At the same time, I am aware that there are old and disabled people who are now not able to climb the three or four flights of stairs to get to their flats. They should seek HDB's assistance for allocation of flats either on the ground floor or on floors with lift landings and HDB will try their best to accommodate such people. In other words, they will be allowed to move from the existing flats to flats which are either on the ground floor or on lift landings. Dr Vasoo also raised the question of old flats which are leaking and so on.”
“First of all, the Member for Tiong Bahru GRC, Dr Vasoo, raised the question of improvement and redevelopment in the Tiong Bahru area. He asked about the possibility of rental adjustment for shops which are in relocation areas. The shops are of two types. One is shops which are within the relocation blocks. They have to move. The other is shops which are adjacent to the relocation blocks whose businesses may suffer as a result of a large number of blocks being knocked down. What happens is that very often there are vacant shops in these adjacent blocks and they are tendered out from time to time. And such tenders will give an indication to HDB of the present market rental of the shops in the area. If the market rentals established in such a way do show that there has been a reduction because of the large exodus of people, I think we can consider some sort of adjustment. But in most cases, the rentals paid by the shops in these areas are so low that the current market rentals are much higher than what they are paying. Therefore, no adjustment will be made. There have been cases in the past where it has been established and demonstrated to the HDB that market rentals have come down as a result of the clearance of an area. In such cases, HDB has been prepared to reduce the rentals. I do not know about the details of the particular case but that is the general approach. He also asked whether the remaining residents in the 1- and 2-room blocks can have some assurance that there will be enough 1- and 2-room blocks for them to be rehoused in the area. I am not sure whether we can assure them that they will be rehoused in that area itself.”
“Sir, I am very pleasantly surprised that a lawyer is advising us not to take a legalistic approach because I thought that is how lawyers make their living! Sir, most resettlement cases are settled fairly easily. In fact, in Chong Pang, 95% of the cases have been settled. It is only when there are specific problems, either no documentary evidence or other such cases that problems arise. I do not know why the definition of a shop should be a top secret. I shall certainly ask my officials. As the Member said, he has just written to us about a week ago on this particular case and we will look at it. A general approach is that there is a list of criteria for compensation - criteria as to who would be eligible for compensation and a table on how compensations are worked out. Those that fall within the criteria and the table, of course, are settled very quickly. It is those who do not fall within these criteria and there is a significant minority who do not, that suffer delays because we have to do further investigations. In the course of such investigations I am not surprised that we have this rather odd case of somebody who claims to be a shop but is not able to satisfy the Ministry because he does not know what the definition of a shop is as far as the Ministry is concerned. As far as the particular case is concerned, we will look into it, as the Member has already written to us.”
“Mr Chairman, Sir, I just realize that there was one point I did not cover and that is the question of agriculture. I will just say a few sentences. Sir, we will make better use of land for agriculture but it is not possible to be self-sufficient. We will try to be more self-sufficient and the agrotechnology parks that I mentioned is one way of making better use of agricultural land.”
“We want them to be facilitators of private development. In this process we want to get as much feedback as possible from the public when we work out our DGPs for specific areas. In the course of the next year or so, we will be making public the DGPs for specific areas and I would call upon all interested Singaporeans to participate actively in formulating DGPs which will give us a good city.”
“Yes, Mr Speaker, Sir, I think I will be prepared to take some time off from some of the other cuts. If you will bear with me, I will finish in a few moments. Finally, we must review our current plan to compensate with quality what we cannot afford in size. The focus must be on quality. We must have well-designed flats with excellent finishes, outfittings, public spaces and so on, instead of bigger and bigger flats. At the same time instead of having large parks which are less accessible, we must think in terms of pocket parks within the city which can be used by more people. The Concept Plan review will be completed sometime next year and we will be holding a public seminar to solicit the views of interested Singaporeans before we finalize the plan. The Concept Plan is one stage. The next stage is what we call the DGP (Development Guide Plan). These are statements of our planners' vision and objective for a particular area. These will show how land can be used and the intensity to which they can be developed. We are now working on about a dozen DGPs. We have already released to the public the DGPs for the Civic and Cultural District and also the Kallang Marina Urban Waterfront Master Plans. There are other DGPs for Orchard Road, for Central Business District and other areas in Singapore which are now in the course of being prepared. They will again be publicized. We will call for public views before finalizing the plans. The idea of these DGPs is to translate the broad objectives and policies of the Concept Plan into specific plans for specific areas. There is an important change in the approach in the planners which I think I should emphasize to the Members. We want planners not to consider themselves as mere enforcers of development control rules.”
“It means that we have to keep a certain percentage of land in reserve. Though we work on the basis of a 3.4 million population, we must plan on a contingency of an increase beyond that. So having such reserve land gives us the option to seize new opportunities should they arise.”
“Firstly, we must be prepared to use capital and technology to minimize land use by encouraging, for example, the development of agrotechnology parks in place of the traditional farming. And by investing more in environmental control technology to minimize land buffer requirements for pollutive activities. In other words, we cannot adopt the kind of technology that others have found relevant and acceptable. We have to do more. If we have an incinerator we must be prepared to invest a lot in the incinerator to ensure that we keep pollution to the minimum so that the buffer zone around the incinerator can be kept to the minimum. Countries which have large tracts of land can afford to have lower standards because their buffer zone can be much bigger. We cannot afford that. Secondly, we have to adopt an integrated approach in the planning of our facilities. For example, instead of schools, community centres and sport complexes, each one having a field, and duplicating recreational facilities, we have to plan recreational facilities in such a way that all three institutions can use them at different times. This will require, for example, schools to be constructed and planned in such a way that the school buildings can be secured from the recreational facilities so that after school hours the schools can be locked up and those who use the recreational facilities cannot have access to the school. So we have to adopt a different approach to share facilities to get the maximum out of our land. Thirdly, we need to plan for contingencies. We need to take a prudent approach to land use. We cannot allocate land according to our present use or present projections. These projections can go wrong and often do go wrong because no one can foretell the future with precision.”
“Thirdly, and perhaps this is the most important point, as Singaporeans grow more affluent they will aspire towards a better quality of life. They do not just want a mere roof over their head; they want something of quality. The physical environment is a very important component of this sense of quality. We are proud of our clean, green and efficient city. But I am sure that we all would like the Singapore of the 21st Century to be one of the great cities of the world, perhaps the first developed city in the equatorial belt. There are other great cities but they are not on the equatorial belt. And this poses a problem for us because we have to chart our own way. We have to blaze our own trail. Many of the things that are done in the temperate countries cannot be done here. We have to experiment and find out for ourselves what will work here. We do not have a great developed city in the equator that we can learn from and we have to pay the cost of learning it on our own. We want a city which is throbbing with life and vitality, with well-designed buildings, plazas, promenades and parks. This is what we will tackle in the review of the Concept Plan. We have already completed our initial assessment of our land needs up to the year 2030 when our population based on national growth is expected to peak at around 3.4 million. Our assessment is that we will have enough land to ensure that Singaporeans can enjoy a high standard of living and provide for all the needs such as housing, industry, commerce, recreation, transport and so on, provided we adopt a few important strategic principles in our use of land. I have mentioned in the past some of these principles and I think it is worthwhile to repeat them.”
“Now I come to the more broad subject of the policy and general planning for land use. The Member has touched upon the Master Plan and the Concept Plan. In order to ensure that we use our land in Singa- pore optimally, we need to have a clear, rational and far-sighted planning policy. To do this we have a hierarchy of plans. At the highest level, which is the most broad plan, we have the Concept Plan, which is the long term land use plan for Singapore and the development plan looking at our land requirements for the next 20 to 30 years. This Concept Plan was first drawn up in 1970 and has served as a guide for the planning of our new towns, our industrial estates, the redevelopment of our central business district, the construction of our expressways, the MRT and the recreation parks. It was a plan for the basic physical infrastructure of our city. With the completion of many of the new towns as well as the expressways, the MRT and the city centre, most of the vision that was envisaged in the Concept Plan has now been put in place. So right now the Ministry is reviewing the plan to provide us with a fresh guide to realize our vision of Singapore in the 21st century. The new Concept Plan will have to take a different focus from the earlier ones for three basic reasons. Firstly, the urbanization rate must slow down, both as a result of our maturing economy as well as the inescapable reality that we simply do not have enough land to sustain the same rate of building as in the past 10 or 20 years. Secondly, with public sector expenditure slowing down in areas like land reclamation, public housing, road construction and MRT, the private sector would begin to assume much greater importance in land development.”
“There are still some major roads to be completed. Part of the expressway system running through the north of the island is still in the planning stage. But when that ring is completed, one would be able to travel from Pasir Ris northwards right up to Woodlands, connect on to Kranji and down to Jurong. But that is not in the near future. That system has already been planned. The land has already been reserved and it will be built as and when we can justify the need for such roads. But apart from that, there is a definite limit as to the number of roads or the widening of roads that we can undertake within the city. The Member for Nee Soon South also mentioned that he is rather disappointed with the lack of coordination in Yishun where the New Town Centre has been very slow in being built. I will certainly ask HDB to try and do better coordination. But there is a problem here because many of the new town facilities cannot be built and cannot be rented out or sold until there is a population. At the same time I do also realize that people cannot be expected to move in to these new areas without sufficient facilities. So what the HDB has done is basically to build in the first instance the neighbourhood centres which provide basic shopping facilities and some recreational facilities like neighbourhood parks and in some cases sport centres and so on. Even with the best coordination in the world, it is not possible for people who move into a new town to expect to enjoy all the facilities that they will require right from day one. It takes some time for a town to mature. But to the extent that we can increase or we can do better coordination we shall certainly do so and I will ask HDB to look into this matter.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, I would like to speak at some length on the policy and general planning for land use in Singapore. But before I do so, may I take some of the other points raised by the two Members. First of all, on land reclamation. We are coming close to the end of land reclamation, though there is still some more that can be done in the Changi/East Coast areas. In the immediate future, there will be some reclamation in Changi. We have not decided exactly to what extent we should do that because we still have not been able to find economic interim use for some of the land that we have already reclaimed. Although the sea contour would allow some further reclamation, we have not decided yet whether we should proceed with such reclamation immediately. There will also be some reclamation along Woodlands for the expansion of the Checkpoint, but these are fairly minor reclamations. The Member for Nee Soon South also mentioned about the limits that we have reached on the development of roads. I think Members would be interested to know that about 10% of the land in Singapore is used for transportation. This will be roads, car parks, MRT and so on. And the total land occupied by housing, both private and public, is just over 10%. So transportation already occupies as much land as housing. And as the Member pointed out, we are coming very close to the limit and that is why we need to have very stringent policies to curb the growth of cars in Singapore and among them is, of course, the high price of cars. So one should not be surprised if cars in Singapore are among the most expensive in the world. We just cannot afford to build more roads because such roads can only be built at the expense of other facilities that we need for Singaporeans.”
“Sir, I can assure the Member that shelters will be provided at Changi Beach Park. As to why they have not been provided to date, I really cannot give him the details.”
“There is also a plan to introduce certain recreational activities on the River itself, such as fishing, canoeing and other water related activities. With these, I think the Singapore River will become a very pleasant place for Singaporeans to go to.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, except for Changi Beach Park, all regional parks have shelters. I understand that there are 68 shelters in East Coast Park and 15 in Pasir Ris Park. But I understand the problem that the Member for Changi brought up, that during the weekends when there are big crowds in these parks and when it rains, the shelters are not sufficient to cater for such big crowds. We will be building additional shelters in both Pasir Ris as well as elsewhere and these shelters will be tastefully designed to blend with the environment. But it is not possible to build sufficient shelters to cater for the peak time visitors to parks. Anybody who has been to some of these parks in the weekends knows that it is very very crowded and if it rains, many people do get wet. But it is just not possible to provide enough shelters for all. If we do, then I think these places will cease being parks. As far as new parks are concerned, yes, HDB will continue to provide neighbourhood parks and town gardens in all HDB new towns based on the new planning norms. Presently, one neighbourhood park is provided per neighbourhood which consists of between 4,000 and 6,000 dwelling units. In addition, a town garden is also provided and this, of course, is on a larger scale. As far as the Singapore River is concerned, it is not possible to provide along the Singapore River banks the same kind of facilities that we provide in some of the parks. In other words, we cannot have camping ground, barbecue pits and so on. But we do intend to landscape and provide pleasant walkways with trees and with enough seating arrangements so that the public can enjoy the sights along the River.”
“Maybe a few months may be possible, but I do not think as long as a two-year period would be allowed because that will hold up the whole renovation work.”
“But in any case, the redevelopment of that whole area which comprises Eu Court and Stamford House need not be done immediately. But there is a need to spruce up the place, renovate it up to a certain point so that it can be rented out temporarily until, maybe, in five or six years' time when we need to redevelop the whole area. So it is that kind of temporary work that is proceeding at the present moment. And when it is completed, we will rent out the premises in Eu Court. Those who are still tenants in Eu Court are there on TOL rentals. The whole of Eu Court has already been acquired by the Government and those who are on TOL rentals would have to move for the renovations to take place. Whether sitting tenants who are past owners will have their properties reverted to them is a question that Dr Lee raised. The answer is no. The whole of Eu Court has been acquired. Those who are tenants there, whether they are past owners or not, are at present paying TOL rentals and TOL terms are quite clear. They are month-to-month and I think the rentals are very low. For example, I think in the case of the two premises that Dr Lee's clinic occupies, the rent is in the region of $400-odd per month. When we need to renovate these premises, the present tenants will have to move out. Whether the tenants will qualify for compensation will depend upon the particulars of the case. They will be treated the same as other resettlement tenants. And if they do qualify, they will get the normal resettlement benefits. As to whether they will be given enough time, I think they have known for a long time now that they will have to move out. Everybody in the building has moved out, except very few who are on the ground floor, who will be given notice soon.”
“Mr Chairman, Sir, first of all, I think Dr Lee is misleading the House by saying that nothing has been done with all the properties that have been acquired. If anybody travels down from Outram Road right up to Coleman Bridge, he will notice that much of the road widening has already been done. The portion between Coleman Bridge and Coleman Street which has already been constructed has not been opened because we need to widen the bridge first. This would mean, that is, after the bridge is completed, that the road widening from Outram Road right up to Coleman Street would have been completed, and this will be a two-way arterial road. Traffic studies show that we do need such a major road through that part of the city. The traffic will be flowing in both directions. I think it is four lanes in each direction. And as I said, the road would have been completed from Outram Road right up to Coleman Street. I think it is the stretch between Coleman Street and Stamford Road that is of particular interest to Dr Lee because Eu Court building is at the junction of Stamford Road and Hill Street, and Dr Lee has a clinic there. For this part, PWD is looking at two options. One option is to widen the stretch from Coleman Street to Stamford Road which will require the demolition of Eu Court. The other alternative is to opt for a passage through Armenian Street towards Queen Street, so that we have one direction going east towards Victoria Street and another going west towards New Bridge Road. As soon as a decision is made, work will start. As far as Eu Court is concerned, most of the tenants have moved out. There is a proposal to conserve Eu Court. But we are not sure whether it is something that we should proceed with.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, I beg to report that the Committee of Supply has made progress on the Main and Development Estimates for the Financial Year 1st April 1989 to 31st March, 1990, and ask leave to sit again tomorrow.”
“I must also emphasize that no landlord can clear out his tenant without, first of all, showing that he has specific plans to redevelop the site, that he has the funds to do so and that the plans in fact have been approved by the relevant authorities. As I explained during the debate on the amendment to the Act, this is the reason why we chose this route, of using the Controlled Premises (Special Provisions) Act, rather than just repealing the Control of Rent Act. Using the Controlled Premises (Special Provisions) Act means that we can spread out the lifting of rent control over a long period and tie it to specific development. This will give a longer time for tenants to adjust and any disruption can be minimized by spreading it out over a longer period. Mr Peh Chin Hua( In Mandarin): Sir, I thank the Minister for his explanation. I beg leave to withdraw my amendment. Amendment, by leave, withdrawn.”