Potong Pasir & Hougang now eligible for lift
upgrading programme
SINGAPORE: For the first time, opposition-held Potong
Pasir and Hougang will be eligible for the Lift Upgrading Program
(LUP) for 65 precincts islandwide.
Senior Minister of State for National Development Grace Fu revealed
this to the media on Monday at a Home Improvement Programme
event.
Residents received upgrades to their piping, laundry areas and
electrical systems and 33,000 more households across Singapore are
expected to benefit from the scheme over the next three
years.
The programme is expected to cost S$1 billion.
They were also given the option to upgrade their toilets, doors and
grilles, with up to 95 per cent of this cost being
subsidised.
Lee Kwai Heng, upgraded flat owner, said: "If you get your own
contractor, where can you get such a good price? I know someone
from upstairs who got someone in to do the same works before this
scheme and they paid S$20,000."
Even more popular among residents is the Lift Upgrading Programming
and the ministry said the timing is right to go ahead with
it.
Grace Fu, Senior Minister of State, National Development Ministry,
said: "We've seen that construction costs are showing signs of
decline. So, it's a very good time for us because there are
resources that are available in the market. So the government
intends to increase our efforts in lift upgrading projects."
When asked by journalists if the surprise announcement - to include
Opposition wards Potong Pasir and Hougang in the programme, was
deliberately timed, Ms Fu said the move had been planned for a
while.
Potong Pasir MP Chiam See Tong and Hougang MP Low Thia Khiang were
not available for comment.
Residents in both wards welcomed the news, especially the
elderly.
Said one elderly resident: "Upgrading the lifts will definitely
benefit the senior citizens, because they are old and maybe they
have weaker legs."
Residents will find out in a few months if any of their blocks will
be amongst the 1,000 which get the upgrade in this exercise.
The entire project expected to be completed in 2014.
Since the programme started in 2001, about 80 percent of the
eligible blocks built before 1990 have received new lifts.
This year's LUP had 15 more precincts selected than last
year.
- CNA/vm