ST : 96% of eligible blocks offered lift upgrading

Nov 8, 2010

96% of eligible blocks offered lift upgrading

MORE than 96 per cent of eligible Housing Board blocks have been offered lift upgrading since the programme was introduced in 2001, the HDB has said.

This means that about 4,900 blocks have already come under the programme to provide lift landings on every floor of older HDB blocks, which usually have one lift landing for every three or four floors. A total of $3.8 billion has been earmarked for this programme.

The board, which disclosed this in response to questions from The Straits Times, added that the Lift Upgrading Programme (LUP) is on track to be completed by the previously set deadline of 2014.

Depending on the complexity of the design of the blocks or precincts, it takes an average of nine to 15 months from the time lift upgrading is announced to a poll being conducted among residents.

The programme is heavily subsidised by the Government. Residents and town councils each co-pay between 5 per cent and 12.5 per cent of the cost.

Construction work, which starts only after a successful poll, takes about 24 to 30 months, depending on the configuration of the block and the precinct size.

The LUP will proceed only when 75 per cent of residents vote for it.

In July last year, the opposition-held wards were picked for the first time for lift upgrading - six blocks in Hougang and nine blocks in Potong Pasir.

Another 32 blocks in Hougang and 22 in Potong Pasir have since been picked.

The HDB statement said that $150 million has been allocated for lift upgrading in the two wards, and will be spent to upgrade all eligible blocks.

The actual cost of upgrading varies according to the configuration of the blocks. For example, segmented blocks without common corridors may require adding new lift shafts so that residents can have direct access to a lift.

For a segmented block of 12 storeys with four lifts, for example, it can cost about $30,000 per household that currently does not have direct lift access.

It would, on the other hand, cost $14,000 per household in a standard 12-storey block which requires a new lift shaft and existing lifts to be upgraded. The cost is lower because it would be necessary to only upgrade the existing lifts.

Costs would be higher for low-rise blocks than for high-rise blocks as there are fewer households to share the cost.

TEO WAN GEK