Also in the works: expanded upgrading programme for HDB and private estates
PRIME Minister Lee Hsien Loong yesterday unveiled the new face of heartland living in Singapore which will be represented by Punggol 21+ - the revamped vision of Punggol 21.
Punggol 21+: New housing will be built along both sides of the waterway, and a town centre will be built on the waterfront with malls and al fresco dining. The coastline will be developed for activities like canoeing and kayaking, and a new promenade will offer a scenic jog or cycle. This will be a modern waterfront lifestyle with lots of greenery, said Mr Lee during his National Day Rally speech.
To accomplish this, the river mouths of Sungei Punggol and Sungei Serangoon will be dammed up and a waterway will be built to link the two freshwater lakes that would be created.
New housing will be built along both sides of the waterway, and a town centre will be built on the waterfront. There will be malls, retail outlets, and even al fresco dining by the water, said Mr Lee.
This will offer heartlanders a Marina Bay-type of waterfront living.
A view from one of the proposed flats facing the waterway will be ‘blue and green in lots of places because we will have trees, plants, shrubbery by the water, on top of carparks, on top of buildings, make it cool, make it eco-friendly, green’, said Mr Lee.
The coastline in Punggol 21+ will also be developed to allow water activities such as canoeing and kayaking. The new coastal promenade will offer residents a scenic route to jog or cycle.
The earlier blueprint for Punggol estate - Punggol 21 - was started in 1998 but work on it slowed as a result of the financial crisis. But now is the time to get things back on track - and on a new track at that, said Mr Lee.
Punggol 21+ will represent the ‘face of the new Singapore - a city with fun and buzz’.
‘But even with the fun and buzz, we retain our present image - clean, green, safe island. This is Singapore. And it’s quite important that we keep that brand recognition even as we acquire new attributes and new lifestyles,’ said Mr Lee.
Older estates will not be forgotten and several enhancements to various housing upgrading programmes were announced by Mr Lee yesterday.
These will benefit not only HDB dwellers, but those who live in private estates as well.
Currently, private estates are eligible for grants under the Estate Upgrading Programme (EUP) for major upgrading purposes.
‘But even then private estates sometimes still feel like they are step-children - neglected,’ noted Mr Lee.
He said that the government has accepted the recommendations made by a committee formed to look into this. The committee was chaired by Minister of State for Finance and Transport Lim Hwee Hua.
The recommendations include a revamp of the EUP to bring together and coordinate all the works done under the programme and an extension of the Community Improvement Project Committee (CIPC) funds to private estates to carry out smaller scale - but more timely - enhancements.
The CIPC funds are currently only available to HDB housing estates.
As for HDB estates, selected sites within old estates are being redeveloped. But in estates where a large piece of land can be cleared, HDB will do more to transform the whole area, said Mr Lee.
This has already started in Dawson estate in Queenstown where a Selective En-bloc Redevelopment Scheme (Sers) project - Forfar Heights - has been completed.
About 10,000 new HDB and private flats will be built in three HDB precincts and the precincts will be integrated with a new linear park to be built on top of the Alexandra Canal.
Middle-aged estates will also be given a new boost with new upgrading programmes to replace existing ones.
The Interim Upgrading Programme (IUP) - which was for individual precincts - will be replaced by the Neighbourhood Renewal Programme (NRP) which will combine two or more precincts so that more and better facilities can be built.
This means that in addition to standard items such as BBQ pits and community gardens, non-standard items like street soccer courts and skating parks can be introduced as well, said Mr Lee.
For individual flats, the existing Main Upgrading Programme (MUP) will be replaced by the new Home Improvement Programme (HIP) which will make possible practical improvements within the flat such as the fixing of spalling concrete on ceilings and the upgrading of toilets.
These new programmes are being introduced in response to feedback from residents, said Mr Lee.
About 100,000 flats - half of those built up till 1980 - have benefitted under the MUP. The HIP will benefit the remaining half.
In addition, the HIP will be extended to flats built between 1981 and 1986, which will cover another 200,000 flats, one quarter of the total flats here.
All these flats will also be eligible for the NRP.
In fact, the NRP will be extended to even younger flats - those built between 1987 and 1989, which means another 60,000 flats will enjoy improvements.
The effects of all these, will be that nearly all the estates in Singapore will enjoy some form of upgrading or enhancement, said Mr Lee.
The new look of public housing will be one of a first-class living environment with greenery and water, where communities are brought closer together.
‘No other city in the world can do this - public housing that is attractive, that is affordable, that’s appealing, that gives a quality home for every citizen and gives you an asset that can appreciate in value and also help to provide for your old age. But in Singapore we can do it, provided we make the effort and work hard together,’ said Mr Lee.
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