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About 550 of the 951 flat buyers of Waterway Sunrise II Build-To-Order (BTO) project located along Punggol Drive have collected the keys to their new homes.

It comprises seven blocks with 1,014 units of two-room flexi, three-room and four-room flats across seven residential blocks.

According to a factsheet from the Housing Development Board (HDB) as of Mar. 4, all seven blocks have been completed, with units in five blocks being handed over to flat buyers progressively.

Final checks for the remaining two blocks are ongoing before keys are handed over to flat buyers. They can expect to receive it by end-March 2023.

Delayed more than a year

Waterway Sunrise II launched on February 2017 and was originally expected to complete by mid-2021. It is one of two BTO projects where the total delays have exceeded one year.

It is among the ongoing BTO projects that suffered the most delays during the Covid-19 pandemic, HDB mentioned.

The Delivery Possession Date (DPD), which is the legal contractual date by which HDB is required under the Agreement for Lease to deliver the possession of the flat, was slated between March and June 2022.

However, the construction timeline was severely affected by the failure of its original contractor, Lian Ho Lee Construction (Private) Limited in 2020.

HDB brought on board a new contractor, Expand Construction Pte Ltd, in October 2020; the BTO project was about 45 per cent completed when the new contractor took over the project.

HDB added that the restart was made slow by the sluggish resumption of works after the Circuit Breaker period as the construction industry had to "navigate unforeseen challenges brought about by the pandemic".

The timeline was delayed again due to labour shortages and disruptions to material supplies from 2020 to 2021, which were exacerbated due to the Movement Control Order in Malaysia and the tightening of border controls for workers from South Asia.

Affected flat buyers to be compensated

As the blocks were delayed beyond the DPD, HDB will be making compensation to flat buyers for the delays.

According to the Covid-19 (Temporary Measures) Act, flat buyers whose flats are delayed beyond their DPD will be able to seek reimbursement for qualifying costs incurred for delays beyond the DPD.

Normally, flat buyers will need to submit proof of their out-of-pocket qualifying expenses to receive the reimbursement.

However, to minimise inconvenience to flat buyers, HDB is offering to pay all flat buyers of Waterway Sunrise II the maximum reimbursement sum that they would be eligible for, without them having to submit any claims or proof of the expenses.

896 households of this BTO project who booked their flats by October 2021 are eligible for the reimbursement amount.

Eligible households will receive the reimbursement within two months after completing the flat purchasing and accepting the Settlement Agreement.

The estimated reimbursement amount for the affected flat buyers of all seven blocks ranges from S$1,000 to S$10,500, with the average sum being S$5,750.

The total reimbursement amount for all 896 affected households is estimated to be S$5,156,700.

Flat buyers of the first four completed blocks have since been reimbursed.

20,000 flats on track to be completed in 2023

According to HDB, the board recognises that the construction delays have brought about inconveniences to flat buyers.

"We are doing our utmost to catch up on the delays, even as we ramp up new housing supply. We are grateful for the patience and understanding shown by all our affected homebuyers, including the new flat owners of Waterway Sunrise II."

HDB said that it is on track to complete and deliver keys to buyers of 20,000 flats across 22 housing projects in 2023.

At a doorstop session on Mar. 4, Minister for National Development Desmond Lee said: "In 2021, nine out of every 10 BTO projects have been delayed as a result of Covid. As of January this year, we’ve brought it down to four out of 10.”

Top image by Fiona Tan.