The Alternative View will be handed a Pofma corrective order for indicating HDB profits from Ang Mo Kio BTO units

Sep 04, 2022

Facebook page Under the Protection against Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act (Pofma), The Alternative View will be given a rectification order for insinuating that the Housing and Development Board (HDB) will benefit from the sale of Build-to-Order (BTO) flats at Central Weave @ Ang Mo Kio.

Last Thursday (September 1), The Alternative View published a Facebook post with the headline of an AsiaOne story titled "Ang Mo Kio BTO flats: Strong demand despite prices of up to $877k for 5-room apartments." The post featured a photograph of Minister for National Development Desmond Lee clutching a bag of cash beside the question, "How much profit is HDB making from this?"

The Ministry for National Development (MND) stated in a news release issued on Sunday that the Facebook post contains "a false and deceptive information" and that HDB "would not benefit from the sale of the Central Weave @ Ang Mo Kio BTO units."

"In actuality, this project will result in a loss, as the expected amount to be received from the sale is less than the estimated overall development costs. "The shortfall is even worse when we consider the CPF (Central Provident Fund) housing grants that HDB would provide to qualified buyers," MND added.

Lee has authorised the Pofma Office to send a rectification directive to The Alternative View, according to the document. The platform will be forced to provide a notice with a link to the government's explanation to the original post.

MND observed that HDB incurs a deficit each fiscal year due to the selling of apartments, as the cash received is less than the expenditures expended. This comprises the overall cost of development, which includes land and building costs, as well as CPF housing incentives.

In FY2021/2021, HDB experienced a deficit of S$3.85 billion in its homeownership programme. MND said that the average annual deficit experienced by HDB over the past three years was about S$2.68 billion.