NSP intends to contest election over Singapore's housing issues
The National Solidarity Party (NSP) said it intends to engage itself in a debate with National Development Minister Mah Bow Tan regarding the housing issues in Singapore.
Goh Meng Seng, the Secretary General of NSP said it wants to contest the General Election in Tampines over the policy decision of Mr. Mah, and not over personalities.
Goh Meng Seng, a businessman, said that "as Mr. Mah pointed out correctly, it's not about Mr. Mah or about me, but his HDB policy, which will affect this, the next and future generations."
The Group Representation Constituency (GRC) of Tampines, which is headed by Mr. Mah, is a multiple-seat constituency in the Parliament that some opposition parties are targeting in the next General Election.
When NSP was asked about their rate of success at the elections, Mr. Goh said, "It's up to us to convince constituents that Mr. Mah's decisions are not good. If we fail to do that, we deserve to lose. Nobody owes us anything."
Yaw Shin Leong, the organizing secretary of the Workers' Party (WP) said no decision has been made yet on whether it will contest Tampines GRC.
Construction of new Queenstown HDB flats costs $120,000 per unit
HDB has awarded a contract worth $99.8 million to Sim Lian Construction Co. for the building works at Queenstown Redevelopment Contract 30, which will have a total of 774 housing units, according to business weekly, the Edge.
The contract, which translates to a construction cost of $129,180 per unit, is slated to begin in March 2010 and is expected to be completed by February 2013.
The statutory board Singapore Land Authority owns the land parcel.
Once completed, the flats are likely to fetch over $300,000 per unit, as the project is located in the prime district of Queenstown.
HDB flat prices have increased in recent years by more than 30 percent, while the average earnings of ordinary Singaporeans remains the same.
Singaporeans have a pervasive perception that HDB is making a huge “profit” at their expense, despite its repeated claim that public housing is “heavily subsidized” in Singapore.
When HDB declared that it had incurred a loss of more than SGD$2 billion dollars in 2009 from “subsidizing” Singaporeans in new flats, only a few bought its story.
Since Sim Lian Construction Co. is a private limited company, and it won't be gaining any profit from the project, the exact cost price of each flat is likely to be less than $129,180.
National Development Minister Mah Bow Tan continues to insist that HDB flats remain “affordable” to ordinary Singaporeans despite growing anger, resentment and frustration on the ground at the sky-rocketing prices of HDB flats.
While he admitted that he was caught unprepared by the rising resale flat prices, he promised to “monitor the situation” closely in order to “address concerns” that prices may be spiraling out of control.
