Debated in Parliament on 6 Oct 2020.
Miss Cheryl Chan Wei Ling asked the Minister for Manpower in light of the limited number of dormitories and availability of temporary living quarters and the cost of living spaces for foreign workers doubling in cost, what has or can be done to assist the contractors during this period.
Since April this year, to lower the density in dormitories and risk of COVID-19 transmission, some dormitory residents have been moved out to Government temporary sites. More employers are also building new Construction Temporary Quarters (CTQs) and converting workplaces into Temporary Living Quarters (TLQs) to house their workers. This has led to a 30% reduction in the number of workers staying in current Purpose-Built Dormitories (PBDs) from 212,000 in April to 150,000 currently.
From end September, the Government has progressively stood up new Quick-Built Dormitories (QBDs). In total, the new QBDs, temporary dormitories fitted out by the Government and new CTQs built by contractors will provide around an additional 60,000 bed capacity. The additional capacity will help maintain a sufficient supply of beds in the market and moderate any increase in bed rental prices as a result of the reduction in density in the dormitories. Feedback from employers and dormitory operators have indicated that dormitory bed rental prices have generally remained stable since pre-COVID. Where employers have experienced significant increases in asking rents, they may wish to consider available alternatives in other dormitories.
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