Homes and businesses surrounded by en bloc constructions bemoan the physical discomfort and additional costs they bring
BESIEGED BY EN BLOC REDEVELOPMENTS, Ban Nee Chen Florist is surrounded by (left to right) The Sea View condominium, which is already near completion; Amber Lodge, which has already been sold en bloc and is awaiting demolition; and The Esta condominium, which is under construction. Florist Steven Ng (above) said the dust has affected his plants so much, he has to hire two workers to clean them. -- PHOTO: MUGILAN RAJASEGERANTHE welter of collective sales around town might be making a lot of Singaporeans richer but they have made life a blooming misery for florist Steven Ng.
His Amber Road business has been besieged by en bloc building works that have not only cost him a packet in clean-ups, but have also prevented him from even getting into his own shop at times.
Once one condo construction site winds down, another building goes under the demolition hammer and the nerve-wracking cycle of dust, noise, cement-mixers and trucks revs up again.
It has been going on for four years, and ‘at the moment, it looks like it’s never going to end’, said Mr Ng, 41.
It is a similar story islandwide with about 170 buildings - or 10,000 flats - sold in collective deals since the start of 2006, according to CB Richard Ellis.
But Mr Ng is unlucky in that some areas such as Amber Road, St Thomas Walk and Telok Kurau Lorong N have a concentration of en bloc redevelopments.
His troubles began in 2003, when Mer Vue Developments bought the Sea View Hotel next door to Mr Ng’s 7,000 sq m Ban Nee Chen Florist and started building The Sea View, a 546-unit condo.
A year later, MCL Land bought Maryland Point condo across the road from Mr Ng, and construction on the 400-unit The Esta began.
Far East Organization has acquired Rose Garden, a condo sharing an L-shaped border with Mr Ng’s nursery.
Mr Ng said he has spent $200,000 above his operational budget dealing with construction-related problems over the four years.
Cracks appear on his premises, building work deters customers while the dust affected his plants so much he had to hire two workers to clean them.
THE CHANGING LANDSCAPE near St Thomas Walk has fuelled complains about its noise levels. Mr Ng is now spending $40,000 to build an enclosure to house his plants. He hopes it will be up before work starts on the Rose Garden site.
Other residents in Amber Road, St Thomas Walk and Telok Kurau Lorong N are also grumbling.
Two properties - Nclave and Emprado Suites - are under construction along a 400m stretch of Telok Kurau Lorong N while three others have been sold en bloc. Between the condos sit fed-up landed property owners.
Nearly half the condos at St Thomas Walk in River Valley have gone through an en bloc sale. Three new ones are under construction - St Thomas Suites, The Ritz and SkyPark - while four - St Thomas Court, Eng Tai Mansion, Airview Towers and Phoenix Court - have been sold.
Neighbours in both areas are up in arms about the dirt and noise, rumbling engines, crashing concrete, pile driving and the beeping from reversing vehicles.
Writer Michelle Kong, 47, who lives in a house across from Nclave in Telok Kurau, said she has been falling ill because of the lack of sleep and bad air. ‘I’m so tensed up and bad tempered and falling sick a lot. I feel like I’m going crazy,’ she said.
Complaints about noise have risen so much - from 4,953 in 2005 to 6,160 in 2006 - that the National Environment Agency is toughening up noise limits on sites starting work on and after Oct 1.
Most families fight the noise and dust by shutting windows and cranking up the air-conditioner but that is not a cheap fix.
Retiree Ang Sin Yam, 75, who lives in a house in Telok Kurau Lorong N, said his utilities bill is up 20 per cent from two years ago, while neighbour Mrs Kong has had a 50 per cent rise to $600.
Residents also lament the changing landscape.
WITH THE NOISE AND DUST, banker Thomas Chan and his son Marshall miss the rural feel of the St Thomas Walk neighbourhood before en bloc fever gripped the area. Mr Chan was nostalgic about how 'it used to be like a forest, quiet and pleasant'. Now, they can't even go for walks because of the heavy machines. -- PHOTOS: CAROLINE CHIABanker Thomas Chan, 36, who has been renting at Sam Kiang Mansion beside St Thomas Suites for four years, said: ‘It used to be like a forest, quiet and pleasant. We were close to the city yet there was a rural feel. Now, we can’t even go for walks because of all the heavy vehicles.’
Mrs Judy Goh, owner of Amber Hotel in Amber Road, said that when business started 20 years ago, their four-storey building was of ‘average height’.
But they will soon be dwarfed by towering condominiums. ‘What to do? That’s the way things change,’ said Mrs Goh.
Despite all the trouble that Mr Ng has to put up with, he seems set on staying put. He has declined previous offers by persistent property developers to buy over his plot of land.
More new residents in the area will mean more business for Mr Ng: ‘I must think long term so I’ve got no choice but to endure in the meantime.’
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