Budget for Estate Upgrading Programme for Private Estates

Madam, since the Estate Upgrading Programme (EUP) was launched in the year 2000, the Ministry of National Development (MND) has committed about S$187 million to upgrade 63 selected private estates through nine batches of EUP. The average budget for each project is about S$20 million.

The pace of the programme will depend on the resources that are currently available, and we also have to coordinate with other Government agencies in terms of planning and upgrading works to minimise inconvenience to the residents and the public. MND will invite nominations for future projects once we have the timeline for implementation.

Madam, supplementary questions for the Minister of State. Is the Minister of State able to tell us or project how much budget would be available in the coming years, which was in my Parliamentary Question (PQ), the next three years?

The second supplementary question is: do I take it that there is no fixed schedule every year to call for EUP and, therefore, it just depends on when the Ministry feels it has the resources to do so?

The third question is: I understand from prior correspondence with the Ministry that the calling of the EUP projects will be through the Citizens' Consultative Committee (CCC). Could I ask whether the Ministry is also able to let the Member of Parliament of the area know that EUP projects are being called, so that we can try to work with the CCC in some way?

Madam, I thank the Member for her supplementary questions. As for how much the budget is, I did say earlier that each project is about $20 million. We do not currently have a block budget for this, but each project is about $20 million. As and when the resources are available, financially, manpower or a need, we will then roll out calls for the next project. So, there is no current fixed schedule at the moment.

In terms of engagement of the ground for project nomination, we generally work through the CCCs because they do know the demands of the estate better, but there is no reason why we will not inform the current Member of Parliament if there is a need to do so. Once the project is ready for announcement and we are working with the CCC and it is quite clear that the project has been finalised, we can actually notify the current Member of the ward as well.

Madam, two supplementary questions. My request for MND to inform the Member is at the start when you are calling for projects. I do appreciate the Minister of State's confirmation that when the project has been more or less fleshed out by the CCC, the Ministry will inform us, but I am asking about the point of calling for projects, because I think we also have feedback that we can share with the Ministry as well. Could the Minister of State confirm that the Ministry would also let the Member of Parliament know when the Ministry is calling for projects when the resources are available?

The second question is, in the recent answer, I think to Member Chong Kee Hiong, in March this year, it was mentioned that the Ministry is aware that there are at least 20 estates that are more than 30 years old that have not benefited from the EUP. I believe, some of these estates are within Aljunied Group Representation Constituency (GRC), some areas in Hwan estate, Hillside, Kovan and so on. Would the Ministry put this on their agenda and not forget the EUP and see whether there are resources available to allocate to it?

Madam, estates in Aljunied have also benefitted from EUP projects in the past. Of course, ideally, we will want to upgrade as many estates as possible. But we have to look into the age of the estate, which is just one aspect, and also the physical characteristics there as well as what we can do there physically, plus also resources available, as well as whether there are any ongoing works that agencies have planned for. So, we try to coordinate all these together. It is not a hard-and-fast rule that just because an estate is of a certain age, EUP will have to be done.