MND to focus on sheltered linkways & access to childcare, food for future large-scale BTO estates : Sun Xueling

The Housing Development Board’s (HDB) plans for future large-scale Build-To-Order (BTO) estates will focus on three areas, sheltered linkways, childcare and food options, said Punggol Member of Parliament Sun Xueling.

Sun, who is the Senior Minister of State for National Development, was speaking in Parliament on Sep. 26.

She emphasised the inter-agency BTO Coordination Committee’s plans to improve other large-scale BTO estates.

The committee was set up last year to facilitate more “resident-centric” planning, said Sun who is now its chair.

She said this comes after studying the experience of residents in new large-scale BTO estates such as Punggol and Tengah.

Three areas

Sun highlighted three areas that HDB is working on as the inter-agency committee looks to address a wide variety of issues.

These issues include transport accessibility, construction disamenities (the negative impact of construction on the surrounding environment e.g. noise pollution) and mobile signal strength.

Sheltered linkways

Sun acknowledged that residents want shelter during their neighbourhood commute.

"For new estates, from the onset, we will see how we can connect our residents to more bus stops and shop clusters," she said.

She added that this could potentially be implemented at the BTO construction stage especially if there are cost savings.

Childcare

Sun emphasised that it is crucial for young parents to minimise the gap between the first residents moving in and the commencement of childcare services.

She said HDB is refining its planning approach so that the childcare centres are built earlier in the development of the estate and handed over to operators in a smoother and faster manner.

Food in a new estate

In addition, Sun touched on a topic important to Singaporeans: food.

"When residents move into a new area, more often than not, food is the first thing that everyone looks out for," she said.

She added that operators may hesitate to open their shops or stalls in a new area with low footfall.

In view of that, operators are currently being provided with a rent-free period.

HDB and the inter-agency committee will also work with the food and retail industry to see how residents can be better served during the move-in period and the town’s early years.

More flats for diverse needs

These improvement plans come amidst HDB building more flats to meet Singaporeans' housing aspirations.

Sun said there will be a variety of public housing options in different locations to suit diverse income groups and family needs.

She also said HDB will launch at least 4,500 flats with shorter waiting times this year.

She added that over the next two years, HDB will launch about 4,000 flats annually.

This is an increase of more than 20 per cent compared to earlier plans.

Exceeded more than 100,000 new flats launched from 2021 to 2025

HDB has exceeded its commitment of launching 100,000 new flats from 2021 to 2025.

From 2025 to 2027, HDB will launch 55,000 BTO flats which is 10 per cent more than the earlier commitment of 50,000.

In the same period, HDB will also sustain a steady private housing supply.

This means planning to launch more than 25,000 private residential units through the Government Land Sales Programme.

Sun added that new estates will be developed in more central locations such as Newton and Pearl’s Hill.

Top image from MDDI/YouTube, HDB's Facebook page