Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong announced several new housing and healthcare schemes at the National Day Rally. Here are the key points of his address.
SINGAPORE: Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong unveiled plans to upgrade and redevelop Singapore’s public housing, and measures to help Singaporeans manage healthcare costs in the National Day Rally on Sunday evening (Aug 19).
In addition to addressing the cost of living, Mr Lee devoted a large part of his speech to housing concerns and revealed two major schemes to renew Housing and Development Board (HDB) flats.
He also announced major changes to healthcare financing: A new healthcare subsidy package for Singaporeans born in the 1950s and the expansion of the Community Health Assist Scheme (CHAS).
Here are 8 key takeaways from the rally:
1. VOLUNTARY EARLY REDEVELOPMENT SCHEME
Addressing Singaporeans’ concerns about the 99-year leases of HDB flats running out in a few decades’ time, Mr Lee announced a new scheme to redevelop HDB flats, that will be implemented in about 20 years’ time.
The Government plans to start redeveloping older housing estates and will begin doing so when the flats are about 70 years old, Mr Lee said.
This will be done progressively over a period of 20 to 30 years so that old towns can be rejuvenated in an "orderly way".
Under the Voluntary Early Redevelopment Scheme (VERS), residents in a precinct will have to vote to allow authorities to take back the flats. Those who do so will receive compensation, but this will be less generous than under the Selective En Bloc Redevelopment Scheme (SERS).
Mr Lee also explained at length the reasons why HDB flat leases should not extend beyond 99 years.
2. HOME IMPROVEMENT PROGRAMME
More HDB flats will be upgraded as the Government expands the Home Improvement Programme (HIP) to homes built from 1987 to 1997. The programme originally covered flats built in the years up to 1986.
Another 230,000 flats will benefit, including in estates like Pasir Ris, Yishun, Tampines and Jurong, Mr Lee said.
HDB will also be upgrading older flats a second time at around the 60- to 70-year mark under a HIP II scheme, which will start in 10 years’ time.
3. MERDEKA GENERATION PACKAGE
The Government will work out a Merdeka Generation Package which will help Singaporeans born in the 1950s with healthcare costs.
The package will cover outpatient subsidies, Medisave top-ups, MediShield Life premium subsidies and payouts for long-term care for about 500,000 Singaporeans.
The benefits will not be as extensive as those for the pioneer generation, who benefitted from the Pioneer Generation Package launched four years ago, Mr Lee said.
The Merdeka package will help to relieve some of the healthcare worries of Singaporeans now in their 60s, he added.
4. MORE HEALTHCARE BENEFITS
Medical subsidy programme CHAS will be extended to all Singaporeans with chronic conditions regardless of income, Mr Lee announced. However, the benefits will continue to be tiered according to income.
The scheme currently provides subsidies to those in the pioneer generation, lower- and middle-income households for outpatient medical and dental care.
The Ministry of Health will announce details of the changes later.
5. MORE POLYCLINICS
More polyclinics will be built in Sembawang, Eunos, Kallang and Bukit Panjang by 2020; and in Tampines North and Nee Soon Central by 2023.
“Some of these are to upgrade and improve existing ones, but we will make sure that there are affordable, accessible, high-quality primary healthcare services all over Singapore,” Mr Lee promised.
Actually by doing this, Pinky hopes to achieve 2 things.
1. Diffuse the 99 year lease time bomb and legitimize the no SERs issue.
2. Play the upgrading card for the next election like previously. Don't fall for his ruse and DO NOT vote for PAP.
Basically the same old song and dance.
Still fuming over this.
Analyzing LHL's NDR speech on HDB flat upgrades
It seems to me now the PAP has gone a different route in dealing with the issue of aging HDB flats. I had hypothesize previously that what the HDB will do is to activate the clause in their 99 year lease and get people out of their aging flats into new ones at a subsidized price and with a new 99 year lease. Hence, enslaving them for another 99 years. This is the pattern chosen for prior flat take backs as in the case of the original Queenstown estate. New estates planned at Tengah and the old Bidadari sites would be where occupants of older flats be moved while their old blocks are demolished to make way for higher buildings with increased density.
After going over LHL's speech , I see now that a new strategy is surfacing. What the PAP will now do is to "upgrade" flats twice, targeted at their 30 and 60 years lifespan. This is what I can see from his speech.
1) The items mentioned by LHL "An essential upgrade, HIP fixes maintenance problems, including spalling concrete, ceiling leaks and damaged pipes", are not upgrades at all. Rather, they are maintenance and repair issues and in some case, essential maintenance. I can add at least 2 high ticket items not on his list, and this would be lifts and the roof. An upgrade would be say, adding a second lift to the building, or installing water sprinklers in the whole building, etc. These items are maintenance and repair items essential to the continued occupancy of the building, and hence essential to the HDB to honour their 99 year lease. Without these maintenance, the block would simply be condemned. From what I can see of this list, there are NO upgrades, only maintenance and repairs. Nice lie, LHL.
2) It was mentioned by LHL, that flat dwellers will pay as little as 5% of the costs for these fake upgrades. Remember when they said they will give you back your CPF at 55? I don't trust that number and I don't believe it. The repairs are all handled by HDB contractors, and unless they make the winning bid completely transparent, we would not know how much 5% really is. Repairs costing $1 million to a block might be inflated to $5 million by the HDB, and hence 5% of $5 million would be $250,000 borned by the flat dweller or 25% of the HDB's cost. LHL mentioned too that some people will pay as little as a few hundred dollars. Right. I will believe that when I see that.
3) On the topic of flat dwellers paying 5%. What's up with that? A tenant should not be paying anything at all for maintenance and repairs, especially when they do not own the unit. The landlord has the responsibility to upkeep and maintain his unit. 100% of the cost should be borne by the HDB.
4) I still maintain that many blocks will not last 99 years, regardless of how much repairs and maintenance you do to them. Plastering over cracks in the concrete with cement and what not does not fix any underlying structural issues. Past the 60 year mark, many HDB blocks should be torn down rather than repaired. Taking one example, that of spalling concrete. There are many underlying reasons for this. The concrete mixture might have been faulty when the block was constructed. And concrete being porous, within this highly humid, tropical environment, more likely than not, would have absorbed the moisture and ended up rusting the rebar. This rebar expanded, and hence the concrete spalled. Fixing this is not easy at all, and it's very expensive. You have to call in a forensic engineer to figure out the root cause. If a confluence of issues appear together at say the 60 year mark, eg. lift has to be replaced, roof has to be replaced, the whole building has to be re-piped, concrete spalling has to be fixed, etc. I don't see how its feasible to do all this. Demolition is the only solution. By contrast, the gold standard for solid construction, the Empire State Building, is 88 years. Looking at it, do you think a HDB block build with the cheapest materials, cheap labour, and a cookie cutter architectural plan will last even that long?
5) The fact that the PAP are so keen on keeping this old buildings up, means to me that the new estates planned and still on the drawing boards, are aimed at future new FT PRs. They will march towards the goal of a 10 million population, with a combination of massive refurbishing of old blocks and construction of new blocks. This 6.9 million population White Paper and the future 10 million population, based on what LHL has said, is very much on. Good luck to all of us.
6) Finally, we look at another LHL lie. The value of the flat will be retained as their leases run down. This is not possible. A 15 year old flat purchased today for $600,000 cannot retain its value at age 60 simply because no bank will finance its purchase. With only 39 years remaining on the lease, no bank financing available, even if it was "upgraded", a buyer would have to pay cash for it. Not many will have the ability to pay $600K in today's money, which could be $1 million in 45 year's time given inflation. This entire "upgrade" lie is being pawned off on the public as Govt Largesse when in effect, its the HDB's duty as owner to maintain and repair the blocks.
Source: https://www.sammyboy.com/threads/analysis-of-lhls-ndr-speech-on-hdb-flat-upgrades.257998/
What about Josexfiend Teo? She got recently promoted to manpower minister, did she also gazed at her dear Pinky with utmost adulation and affection?
Pinky so 体贴人民 , no wonder Lawrence Wong is so in love with him!!!!!!