SINGAPORE — Despite the uncertain economic outlook, the Government will still pour in a “significant amount” of more than S$1 billion into upgrading public and private estates over the next few years, National Development Minister Lawrence Wong said on Friday (Oct 11). 

This is expected to provide support for stakeholders in the built environment industry.

“In the current economic climate, our assurance is that we will continue to have a good pipeline of public sector projects which, hopefully, will provide support for our important industry partners, be they consultants or contractors,” Mr Wong said.

He was speaking at the Ministry of National Development’s (MND’s) annual get-together event with industry professionals, as well as representatives and volunteers from partnering non-governmental organisations and interest groups.

MND was unable to provide by publication time a breakdown of how much of the S$1 billion budget will be allocated to the public and private estates, as well as the amount that was spent on upgrading previously.

In his speech, Mr Wong also said that he wants to consult residents more intensively, involving them as early as during the design and planning stages of an upgrading project, instead of only in the final stages as it is now. 

The “typical way” in which upgrading projects go about today involve the town council or the government agency working with a consultant, who will put together a plan, followed by an exhibition, where residents can see what is planned and provide their feedback.

The feedback will then lead to some “minor fine-tuning” before the plan is executed.

“The process is not bad, but certainly, it can be improved,” Mr Wong said.

“We want to involve residents at the early stages of the project… This will take more time and effort, but I think it will be worthwhile. Residents will have a stronger stake in their estate, and they will have a greater sense of ownership over their common spaces.”

In an update, the minister announced that 55,000 of the 230,000 flats that were built between 1987 and 1997 will be among the first batch of flats lined up for the second round of the Housing and Development Board’s (HDB’s) Home Improvement Programme (HIP) that is to start from next year onwards.

Mr Wong, who is also Second Minister for Finance, said that the remaining 175,000 flats will be scheduled for HIP “progressively”, depending on the budget allocated by the Ministry of Finance, which would be influenced by how well the economy does.

Still, he is optimistic that the Government can complete the exercise “over the next 10 or more years”.

Referring to the fourth-generation leadership’s “Singapore Together” movement that Deputy Prime Minister Heng Swee Keat launched at a dialogue on June 15, Mr Wong said that it is not just a “slogan or tagline”.

With that in mind, he said that MND will be following this “important guiding principle” not just in sprucing up public housing estates but in city planning, developing green spaces and solutions, and activating common spaces.

REVIVING OLD ‘IDEA’ FOR TWO MAJOR HOUSING PROJECTS

On planning, he said that the Government recognises that good city planning “cannot be done simply from the top down”, calling for a strengthening of partnerships with architects and planners from the private sector.

For a start, MND will be inviting members of the Singapore Institute of Architects and the Singapore Institute of Planners to prepare development guides for upcoming areas, such as the Greater Southern Waterfront and Paya Lebar Airbase. 

The 2,000ha Greater Southern Waterfront, which covers 30km of coastline that stretches from the Gardens by the Bay East area to Pasir Panjang, will be six times the size of Marina Bay and double the size of Punggol town.

And the airbase, which will be relocated to Changi from 2030 onwards, will free up an 800ha area in Paya Lebar — bigger than Bishan or Ang Mo Kio — for new homes, offices, factories and parks.

The guides being sought will serve as inputs for Singapore’s future master plans, Mr Wong said. 

This manner of partnership is not new. The idea to revive the exercise was mooted by some veteran architects whose expertise were sought in the early to mid-1990s to come up with development guide plans for the 1998 Draft Masterplan, he noted.

He heard the suggestion over a lunch with architects and decided to take it up because he thought it was an “excellent idea”, he added.

While the exercise could involve industry veterans, Mr Wong urged the Singapore Institute of Architects and the Singapore Institute of Planners to get younger architects and planners more involved because the Greater Southern Waterfront and Paya Lebar Airbase “will take many decades to implement”. 

“Let them dream and imagine what our future city can be, and let them provide input in shaping our future city. Because they will ultimately be the ones responsible for taking care of this city and making it better,” he said.

ONE CHANNEL TO GET APPROVAL FOR ACTIVITIES

One other focus is in making it easier for the private sector to “place-make”, or come up with initiatives that can tap each precinct’s history and offerings, such as coming up with street activities and neighbourhood gatherings.

Right now, members of the public with ideas to hold street activities or neighbourhood gatherings may find that they have to approach different agencies such as HDB or the Urban Redevelopment Authority for permission to close roads or use a public space. 

But soon, they will have access to just “a single portal” under a new “Lively Places” programme, which can provide them with funding of up to S$20,000 for each initiative, Mr Wong revealed.

“Ground up — you decide. You let us know where you would like to do your project and we will sort it out for you at the backend. You don’t need to decide which agency to go to,” Mr Wong said, noting that ideas can range from organising a pop-up event to putting up a performance.

“And besides funding, agencies will also assist you and help facilitate your project. Many people have ideas, energy, but they don’t always know how to navigate through all the regulatory requirements.”

Besides the ground-up initiatives, HDB will also do more to regularly seek ideas and select the best for joint implementation, by rolling out its “Lively Places Challenge” project across eight towns next year. 

In one such completed initiative, a group of residents had proposed to create a hydroponics farm on a plot of empty land next to the void deck of their housing block in Woodlands earlier this year, and the farm was built in two months with HDB’s help.

“(The challenges) tend to be the larger ideas, so HDB will work with you to implement the best ideas… We look forward to partnering with Singaporeans to make our housing estates livelier and more vibrant,” Mr Wong said.