ST : Hougang residents want lift upgrading

Nov 17, 2010

Hougang residents want lift upgrading

Resounding 'yes' from first batch of residents in constituency polled

By Teo Wan Gek

THE first residents in opposition-held Hougang to be offered lift upgrading gave the programme a resounding 'Yes' when polls closed yesterday.

There was 100 per cent support from residents of two blocks, and more than 80 per cent support in the four other blocks that were selected.

Lift Upgrading Programmes (LUP) in eligible Housing Board estates will proceed only when 75 per cent of households vote for it.

Polling among residents of Blocks 351, 352, and 354 to 357 in Hougang Avenue 7, opened last Friday night.

Housewife Lim Bee Choo, 60, who lives in a three-room maisonette in Block 357 with her three sons, voted for LUP even though her home is on the second floor.

'When I get older, I think I will need it even more. Even now, having a lift will be useful. When I carry heavy bags of groceries up the stairs, my legs get tired,' she said in Mandarin.

Madam Lim, who will have to pay $3,000 for the LUP, added: 'There are also others in the block who need it more than me.'

The constituency's People's Action Party (PAP) grassroots adviser Eric Low, who announced last October that the six blocks of 360 units were selected for LUP, cheered the results.

'I am delighted that residents involved in this first precinct in Hougang have given total support in all six blocks,' he told The Straits Times in an e-mail.

'The result reflects well on the approach taken by HDB and our grassroots leaders. We are confident the same methodology will be repeated in the next three precincts I have already announced.'

Mr Low said on Oct 31 that a further 32 blocks in three precincts had already been identified for the LUP. As for the remaining three precincts in the constituency - whose MP is Workers' Party chief Low Thia Khiang - he said that he expects to be able to make an announcement about lift upgrading for them next year.

The national programme to have lifts stop at every floor in eligible HDB blocks 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.

Mr Eric Low said last week that the Government will give a subsidy of $9.5 million to upgrade lifts in the first batch of six blocks, while the town council's share of the cost will be 'just under a million'.

Construction work on the project for the first batch of flats is likely to start in the third quarter of next year, and be completed by 2013.

It usually takes about 24 to 30 months for works to complete.

The HDB has said that the nationwide LUP is on track to be completed by 2014.

Lift upgrading in Potong Pasir - the other opposition-held ward whose MP is Singapore People's Party chief Chiam See Tong - has also been previously announced.

The first precinct with nine blocks was offered LUP last year. And just over a week ago, Mr Sitoh Yih Pin, the PAP grassroots adviser there, said another 22 blocks of flats in three precincts had been identified for the LUP.

wangekt@sph.com.sg