Data on Selection of HDB Blocks for Home Improvement Programme
Ministry of National DevelopmentSpeakers
Summary
This question concerns Mr Ang Wei Neng's inquiry regarding the selection of HDB blocks for the Home Improvement Programme (HIP) and how older blocks are prioritized. Senior Minister of State for National Development Ms Sim Ann stated that 527 blocks aged 30 and above are pending selection, while 102 blocks under 30 years were chosen to maintain contiguous parcels with older blocks. She explained that the Housing and Development Board prioritizes older flats based on Town Council nominations while ensuring a broad geographical spread across public housing estates. Ms Sim Ann noted that although COVID-19 delayed the programme, efforts are being made to expedite projects to meet resident expectations for estate refreshes. Finally, she clarified that the selection process considers historical building patterns to ensure various localities benefit from the programme despite the concentration of aging flats in certain areas.
Transcript
5 Mr Ang Wei Neng asked the Minister for National Development as of January 2023 (a) how many HDB blocks that are above 30 years old have not been selected for the Home Improvement Programme (HIP); (b) how many HDB blocks that are below 30 years old have been selected for HIP; and (c) how is HDB prioritising older HDB blocks for HIP.
The Senior Minister of State for National Development (Ms Sim Ann) (for the Minister for National Development): Mr Speaker, as at end January 2023, there are 527 blocks 30 years and above eligible for the Home Improvement Programme (HIP), but which are pending selection.
Out of the 4,449 blocks selected for HIP since the programme's inception in 2007, 102 blocks are below 30 years, as at 2023. Generally, these blocks have been selected for HIP as they form a contiguous parcel with blocks that are 30 years and above.
At the beginning of each Nomination Exercise to select blocks for the HIP, the Housing and Development Board (HDB) will inform Town Councils of the remaining precincts or blocks that are eligible and invite them to nominate a number of the eligible precincts and blocks, especially those that are aged 30 years and above, for HDB and the Ministry of National Development (MND)'s evaluation. In general, MND and HDB will accord priority to older flats, while ensuring that there is a good geographical spread of HIP projects across public housing estates.
Mr Speaker: Mr Ang Wei Neng.
Mr Ang Wei Neng (West Coast): I thank the Senior Minister of State for her reply. Can I ask whether the HIP progress has been slowed by COVID-19, and if so, are there any plans to ramp up so that more HIPs can be rolled out to more precincts and more residents can benefit from it?
Ms Sim Ann: Mr Speaker, in reply to Mr Ang, as with many other public sector construction projects, HIP did get affected by COVID-19-related delays. However, now with the projects that are being selected, we will do our best to expedite them. We also know that residents have been looking forward to them.
Mr Speaker: Mr Gerald Giam.
Mr Gerald Giam Yean Song (Aljunied): I thank the Senior Minister of State for her reply. I just want to find out what is the age of the oldest block that has yet to be selected for HIP and where is that block located, as far as constituency is concerned? And just now, the Senior Minister of State mentioned that one of the factors, besides age, is the geographical spread of the blocks. How does this factor into HDB's decision on choosing blocks based on geographical spread?
Ms Sim Ann: Mr Speaker, I do not have the specific answer to Mr Giam's first supplementary question.
As for how we look at geographical spread, this actually reflects, to a very large extent, the history of our HDB building programmes because in the past, we have been developing new towns and this results, for instance, in flats of a certain age being bunched in certain localities.
But we also know that, generally, once the flats get to a certain age, there will be reasons why residents would like to see a refresh, so we bear this in mind. There will be times when there are towns with more flats that are of a certain age, but we try to also provide a spread, so that more residents will be able to see a refresh going on in their estates.