SINGAPORE — Leader of the Opposition Pritam Singh on Tuesday (Feb 7) said that the “sacred cow” of not building new Housing and Development Board (HDB) flats ahead of demand is “one that needs to be slaughtered”.
This is particularly because of the “serious implications” an overheated housing market has on public housing prices for ordinary Singaporeans, the Workers’ Party chief told Parliament.
“The Government regularly trots out the HDB housing backlog after the Asian financial crisis as a reason for not wanting to build excessively,” said Mr Singh. In response, National Development Minister Desmond Lee said the HDB was overseeing almost 100 Build-To-Order projects islandwide, with almost 80,000 flats under construction now.
Responding to CNA queries last November, HDB said that it is already building ahead of demand or actual bookings, where possible.Mr Singh also questioned whether a Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act correction direction issued last October suggested that land for public housing can be sold to HDB at a price lower than its market value as established by the chief valuer.
“I would like to ask the minister how do these exceptions — because they are exceptions — avoid the often-heard PAP criticism of raiding past reserves,” said the WP chief. It was important for the Government to give a breakdown of the dollar value of taxpayer subsidies for the home ownership programme, he said.
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