SINGAPORE: Blocks 1A to 6A Woodlands Centre Road
were on Monday identified for the Selective En bloc Redevelopment
Scheme (SERS) by the Housing and Development Board
(HDB).
The Woodlands site, the 78th to benefit from SERS,
comprises 147 flats that were completed in 1980. These flats will
be 36 years old by the time the residents move to the new
replacement flats at Woodlands Drive 70.
HDB will build about 190 units of new two-, three-,
four-and five-room flats at Woodlands Drive 70 to re-house the
residents affected by the SERS exercise.
The replacement flats are at a convenient location, opposite the
Admiralty MRT station and neighbourhood shopping complex Admiralty
Place. Amenities such as shops, eating establishments, wet market,
community centre and schools are close by.
Within the replacement precinct, there will be recreational
facilities for all ages, such as a playground, open plaza and
fitness stations.
The replacement flats will be ready in 2016.
Eligible SERS flat owners will be invited to register for their
replacement flats in the second quarter of 2013.
197 rental shops, eating houses and offices at Blocks 1A to 6A, and
the hawker centre at Block 4A comprising 78 cooked food stalls
managed by the National Environment Agency (NEA), will be cleared
in tandem with the sold flats.
Eligible shop tenants will be given an ex-gratia payment of
S$60,000 per tenancy.
Singaporean shop tenants will be granted a relocation assistance
benefit of S$30,000 per tenancy if they are able to find
alternative premises to continue their business before the
clearance deadline.
All shop tenants will also be given a 10 per cent rental discount
on their successful bid for other HDB rental shops or when they
take over HDB rental shops through assignment.
To ensure that there will be an adequate number of cooked food
stalls to serve the community, NEA will build a replacement hawker
centre at Woodlands Town. Details on the proposed location will be
announced at a later date.
Hawker stallholders who wish to continue their trade will be
allocated a new stall at the replacement centre. Alternatively,
they may opt to be allocated alternative vacant stalls at other
existing hawker centres, subject to availability. For stallholders
who wish to exit, an ex-gratia payment of S$23,000 per tenant will
be offered to first-generation stallholders.
The Housing and Development Board says all SERS flat owners,
commercial tenants and stallholders will be informed
individually.
Information of the replacement flats for the SERS flat owners will
also be exhibited from June 28 to July 2 at Marsiling Community
Club.
SERS offers residents the unique opportunity to move to a brand new
flat with a fresh 99-year lease, better design and modern
facilities.
Since SERS was introduced in 1995, the programme has benefited
about 36,000 households across 77 sites.
- CNA/wm
