HDB flat owners will soon be able to pick and choose some of the features they would like to have in their estate's upgrading programme. This is one of the recommendations from residents who participated in a series of discussions known as the HDB Heartware Forum earlier this year.
A closed-circuit TV system is one item on the expanded list of features that residents can select.
Funded by the Community Improvement Projects Committee, it is among ten additional items on the list that include community halls and bird hangers.
HDB said it recognises that precincts should not be developed in a cookie-cutter style, which is why residents would be allowed to opt out of some of the features of the upgrading programme and shape their own living environment.
But the panel overseeing the HDB Heartware Forum added that such flexibility would not be implemented across the board and would likely be reserved for very important decisions.
What it hopes to formalise is a voting process where residents can ballot for their choices.
Minister of State for National Development Grace Fu said: "(Having) choices doesn't mean more expensive installation of facilities. We have to manage the cost part to make sure that it is still affordable to all the residents.
"We also have to consider the impact of the timing of decision making because we do not want too many steps to be introduced and therefore hold back decisions."
HDB will also start consultation of SERS (Selective En bloc Redevelopment Scheme) residents regarding the precinct facilities at their replacement sites.
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Residents contributed views and ideas over the 8-month-long HDB Heartware Forum, comprising a series of focus group discussions and public dialogues.
The discussion exercise also saw many calling for wet markets and hawker centres.
HDB has since decided to put up a site in Sengkang for this purpose, three years after it stopped building wet markets.
The pilot project will be tendered to a private operator who will build and manage it.
Ms Fu said: "We are hoping to bring back the old-style hawker centre where it's naturally ventilated and you do not need to air-condition the place, therefore lowering the overall cost of operations.
"But having said that, I think we will ask HDB to look at the criteria and the demographic requirements of different estates."
The panel also hopes to see more schools and community sharing available facilities.
So far, 50 secondary schools have opened up their fields to the public and 50 more primary schools will soon follow suit.
Senior Parliamentary Secretary for Education Masagos Zulkofli said: "It could be something that the school and the community might co-fund – maybe a gym or auditorium – facilities that the public, on its own, may not optimally use."
Many of the initiatives are still at the planning stage and the HDB is expected to announce more details in the months ahead.
But even as the living environment is enhanced, the history of each estate will not be forgotten.
HDB is looking at ways to preserve the heritage of the Geylang Serai area as it is being redeveloped.
It is exploring options for the new Geylang Serai market, which may be built in a style reminiscent of rustic Malay architecture, with an exhibition space to showcase its history. - CNA/so
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