ST : Residents, shopkeepers cheer Bedok Town Centre upgrading

Dec 06,2010

Residents, shopkeepers cheer Bedok Town Centre upgrading

By Teo Wan Gek
THE completion of upgrading programmes in parts of Bedok Town Centre has cheered residents and shopkeepers, who have seen flat prices appreciate and an increase in business.

Security officer Saeman Musta, 43, of Block 201 Bedok North Street 1, has a new utility room, timber doors, grille gates and windows and upgraded bathrooms under the Main Upgrading Programme (MUP), which was completed earlier this year.

He is using the new utility room in his three-room flat as a study and playroom for his two children. 'They used to play in the kitchen or living room but it was noisy. Now, they have their own space.'

According to Mr Lee Yi Shyan, MP for the Kampong Chai Chee ward of East Coast GRC, the completion of the MUP for Blocks 201 to 203 has seen the value of flats there go up by at least 10 per cent.

Their average price is now around $335,000 compared to $297,000 for other similar three-room flats that have not undergone MUP.

Business in the town centre is also up by some 20 per cent after 163 shops had a facelift under the Revitalisation of Shops scheme, which includes installation of fixed awnings and vertical blinds at shop fronts to widen the covered corridors.

Residents at nine other HDB blocks in Bedok North Street 1 and New Upper Changi Road also now have lifts that stop on every floor, new linkways, drop-off porches and a plaza area under the Interim Upgrading Programme Plus.

Mr Lee, who is Minister of State (Trade and Industry and Manpower), said at a ceremony yesterday that the completion of upgrading showed the 'last four years have been very fruitful, in terms of working together to make Kampong Chai Chee a better place and better home'.

Minister in the Prime Minister's Office Lim Hwee Hua, who visited the ward to meet residents and shopkeepers, later commended grassroots leaders for their part in explaining and working with residents during the upgrading process.

'All this is also possible only because you are steered by a good MP like Mr Lee Yi Shyan, who is able to harness the different groups of people, whether the grassroots leaders or residents, to meet the challenges,' she said at a dialogue.

At the dialogue, fishball noodle stall owner Richard Teo, 51, said he was concerned about the future of the Block 207 food centre. Its lease is up in May 2014.

He gave Mrs Lim a petition signed by more than 50 of the 70 stallholders there who do not want the centre demolished. She said she would convey their views to the National Development Ministry.

Mr Lee is also keen to have the food centre remain in place, noting that it had many popular stalls and attracted Singaporeans from all over.