Sum Insured under Compulsory HDB Fire Insurance Scheme

69 Mr Ang Wei Neng asked the Minister for National Development (a) what is the number of fire incidents involving HDB flats in the past five years; (b) of these, how many flats were a total loss in respect of the sum insured under the HDB Fire Insurance Scheme; (c) what is the frequency of the Ministry's review of the sum insured under the compulsory HDB Fire Insurance Scheme; and (d) whether the current sum insured is adequate to cover the cost of reinstating damaged internal structures, fixtures and areas built and provided by HDB.

Mr Lawrence Wong: All flat owners with an outstanding Housing and Development Board (HDB) loan are required to take up a basic fire insurance policy under the HDB Fire Insurance Scheme. It provides coverage for the reinstatement cost of the building structures and fixtures, in the event of a fire.

In the last five years, there were a total of 640 fire incidents, involving less than 0.1% of HDB’s stock of sold flats. Of these, 448 cases (or 70%) were covered under the HDB Fire Insurance Scheme. In all of these cases, the sum insured fully covered the claims to reinstate damaged internal structures, fixtures and areas built. The sum insured under the HDB Fire Insurance Scheme is thus adequate.

HDB calls a tender to appoint an insurer for the Fire Insurance Scheme for each five-year term, during which HDB will review the sum insured for each flat type.