Some Eunos residents have protested against HDB’s lift upgrading programme in their estate by crossing out all the four options given to them during a meeting over the weekend with HDB.
They are flat owners in Blocks 411, 415 and 417 in Eunos Road 5. The new lift shafts built as part of a lift upgrading programme last year ended up blocking their flats from sunlight and wind, making their homes dark and hot.
The residents had taken issue with the layout and location of the new lifts when the plan was first revealed in 2006.
Despite having numerous discussions with their MP Dr Ong Seh Hong, the impasse remains unresolved.
HDB has proceeded to build the lifts with the new lift shafts becoming an eyesore in the vicinity. They are still uncompleted due to objection from the residents.
During a meeting last Saturday morning with HDB, some of the residents surrounded HDB’s deputy director of upgrading programmes management Chee Kheng Chye last Saturday morning, firing questions at him.
The questions included why the lift shaft was built blocking most of the front door and one bedroom unit, when in a brochure given out to residents, the lift shaft had appeared different on the floor plan. The diagram, explained Mr Chee, is schematic and not drawn to scale.
Residents said the suggested changes were too minor to make a real difference.
This is not the first time that HDB’s lift upgrading programme has become embroiled in controversy.
A wheelchair-bound man by the name of Ryman Lim wrote in to TODAY last week complaining that the design of the new lifts at his Clementi flat is not wheelchair-friendly at all as all residents still have to climb up or down a half-flight of stairs to get from the corridor to the lift.
He got a cool response from HDB when he tried to feedback his case to them:
“When I approached the HDB, I did not expect such an indifferent response from them. The HDB insisted that the residents voted for a lift landing of this design, and the vote was final, with no special consideration to be given to wheelchair-bound residents like myself,” he wrote.
[Source: TODAY's Voices, 5 November 2009]
The same deputy director Chee Kheng Chye replied three weeks later on 26 November 2009 that “there is a small number of blocks where direct lift access is not possible due to site or technical constraints.”
He ended his letter without offering any concrete help or support for the stranded resident:
“We empathize with Mr Lim’s situation, and seek his understanding on the LUP solution implemented for his block.”
[Source: TODAY's Voices, 26 November 2009]
Lift upgrading programme was introduced to rectify an earlier design flaw by HDB whose lifts do not stop on every level.
The upgrading will only go ahead if 80 per cent of the residents living in the precinct voted for it. For some strange reasons, few estates have rejected the lift upgrading programme so far.
The government will pay the bulk of the upgrading with the residents chipping in the rest, usually ranging from a few thousand dollars to more than ten thousand dollars.
The Lift upgrading programme is often used by the ruling party to threaten Singaporeans to vote for them during the elections.
Residents living in opposition-held wards like Hougang and Potong Pasir have been denied essential upgrading of their flats for many years until lately.
They are flat owners in Blocks 411, 415 and 417 in Eunos Road 5. The new lift shafts built as part of a lift upgrading programme last year ended up blocking their flats from sunlight and wind, making their homes dark and hot.
The residents had taken issue with the layout and location of the new lifts when the plan was first revealed in 2006.
Despite having numerous discussions with their MP Dr Ong Seh Hong, the impasse remains unresolved.
HDB has proceeded to build the lifts with the new lift shafts becoming an eyesore in the vicinity. They are still uncompleted due to objection from the residents.
During a meeting last Saturday morning with HDB, some of the residents surrounded HDB’s deputy director of upgrading programmes management Chee Kheng Chye last Saturday morning, firing questions at him.
The questions included why the lift shaft was built blocking most of the front door and one bedroom unit, when in a brochure given out to residents, the lift shaft had appeared different on the floor plan. The diagram, explained Mr Chee, is schematic and not drawn to scale.
Residents said the suggested changes were too minor to make a real difference.
This is not the first time that HDB’s lift upgrading programme has become embroiled in controversy.
A wheelchair-bound man by the name of Ryman Lim wrote in to TODAY last week complaining that the design of the new lifts at his Clementi flat is not wheelchair-friendly at all as all residents still have to climb up or down a half-flight of stairs to get from the corridor to the lift.
He got a cool response from HDB when he tried to feedback his case to them:
“When I approached the HDB, I did not expect such an indifferent response from them. The HDB insisted that the residents voted for a lift landing of this design, and the vote was final, with no special consideration to be given to wheelchair-bound residents like myself,” he wrote.
[Source: TODAY's Voices, 5 November 2009]
The same deputy director Chee Kheng Chye replied three weeks later on 26 November 2009 that “there is a small number of blocks where direct lift access is not possible due to site or technical constraints.”
He ended his letter without offering any concrete help or support for the stranded resident:
“We empathize with Mr Lim’s situation, and seek his understanding on the LUP solution implemented for his block.”
[Source: TODAY's Voices, 26 November 2009]
Lift upgrading programme was introduced to rectify an earlier design flaw by HDB whose lifts do not stop on every level.
The upgrading will only go ahead if 80 per cent of the residents living in the precinct voted for it. For some strange reasons, few estates have rejected the lift upgrading programme so far.
The government will pay the bulk of the upgrading with the residents chipping in the rest, usually ranging from a few thousand dollars to more than ten thousand dollars.
The Lift upgrading programme is often used by the ruling party to threaten Singaporeans to vote for them during the elections.
Residents living in opposition-held wards like Hougang and Potong Pasir have been denied essential upgrading of their flats for many years until lately.
