18,000 FLATS COMPLETED IN 2024
HDB said it completed over 18,000 flats across 22 BTO projects last year.
Seventeen of these were pandemic-delayed projects, while one project – Harmony Village @ Bukit Batok – saw slight delays due to a change in contractor.
The remaining four – Alkaff Breeze, Champions Bliss, Parc Glen @ Tengah and Grove Spring @ Yishun – were built without any delays, reflecting the “steady” post-pandemic recovery in the construction industry since 2023, HDB said.
There were two projects with shorter waiting times of below three years – Parc Glen @ Tengah and Grove Spring @ Yishun.
Overall, accounting for delays caused by the pandemic, the waiting time for the flats across all 22 projects ranged from about two to five years.
HDB said there are currently 110 BTO projects under construction, up from 95 a year ago arising from the ramp-up in BTO supply in recent years.
“With the completion of all projects that were delayed by the pandemic, there are currently no delayed projects among the projects under construction,” the agency said.
Asked about the termination of contractors at two BTO projects and what is being done to prevent the repeat of such instances, Mr Lee said: “Considering the extensive impact that COVID-19 had on the construction sector, I would say that these are events that we hope would not have happened, but they’ve happened, and we want to make sure that we continue to learn the lesson.”
Lessons learned include having tighter coordination and monitoring between the developing agencies, contractors and consultants. The use of digital tools has helped the authorities to better track progress and pre-empt difficulties.
Other efforts include diversifying sources of construction materials and pushing for greater robotics and automation to deal with labour shortages.
“Of course, when these things happen (and) the contractor is unable to proceed because of financial reasons and other causes, HDB has a process to swing into place to be able to make sure that the delays are minimised to the best extent possible,” Mr Lee said.
He was also asked about how some residents in phase one of Punggol Point Cove have cited “unsatisfactory conditions” in their new flats, such as scratched windows.
Mr Lee said residents who encounter issues within their new flats can approach the building service centre for the BTO project.
“The contractors, the supervisors (and) HDB teams are working hard to address all the concerns that residents raised, not just here, but all across the island,” he said.
“Over the last five years, we’ve completed 80,000 homes. (With) this large number of units being worked on, we need to make sure we continue to build flats safely and with good quality, and when there are defects with the issues, the HDB team, together with our contractors, will work hard to address residents concerns.”
