Multi-agency committee set up to ease inconveniences for residents moving into new BTO flats

SINGAPORE - When Hayley Tai, 30, gets the keys to her new Build-To-Order (BTO) flat at Tampines GreenOpal in May, the bridge crossing Bedok Canal to connect to the MRT station will still not be ready, making it less convenient for the marketing manager to get to work.

"I guess it would take me an additional 15 minutes to get to work, so that's a bit of an inconvenience," she said.

To better time the completion of key infrastructure and essential services, a multi-agency committee has been set up to minimise inconveniences to owners when they move into their new BTO flats.

Announcing the nationwide initiative on April 12 at the Housing Board's roadshow for home owners moving into Tampines GreenOpal, Senior Minister of State for National Development Tan Kiat How said: "With an extensive building programme, it is even more important for us to strengthen our planning and coordination efforts, to shape a better moving-in experience for new residents."

Between 2025 and 2030, around 130,000 BTO flats will be completed.

Tan said that HDB's BTO construction volume is expected to peak in 2026 and 2027 with nearly 150 projects that will be under construction.

Normalcy has returned to HDB's BTO building programme after all the projects affected by the Covid-19 pandemic were cleared, according to the public housing authority in March.

In response to The Straits Times, a spokesperson for the coordination committee said that such a review was timely and relevant because of the large volume of flats under construction, which includes new housing areas, as it will help to "identify some of the common pain points faced by new residents in their moving-in journey and to proactively put in place some measures and ensure seamless coordination to mitigate the issues".

Led by the Ministry of National Development and HDB, the committee includes key agencies involved in the building, delivery and management of infrastructure and services related to new BTO projects. This includes the Land Transport Authority, National Environment Agency, Early Childhood Development Agency, Infocomm Media Development Authority and People's Association.

Issues that they want to address include improving the timing of providing key infrastructure like mobile signal network and pedestrian pathways so that they are ready for use when the residents move in.

The committee will also look at how shops and childcare centres can be up and running sooner to support the new residents, while balancing the need for them to have enough users to sustain their business.

Focus will also be placed on getting precinct facilities and landscaping completed around the same time as when key collection is completed. This is so that the residents can use the facilities immediately.

Notably, these were some of the issues faced by residents at the BTO flats in Tengah, Singapore's first new town in more than 20 years. Although things have improved, the first home owners who moved in in 2023 had to contend with patchy mobile signal connection, not having a supermarket within the neighbourhood and limited access to public transport.

Tan said that the agencies in the committee will further tighten the integration across the agencies and do more community communications and outreach to keep residents informed of the latest developments.

For new housing areas like Bayshore and Mount Pleasant where it may not be possible for everything to be ready during key collection, Tan said that interim measures would be considered to better serve residents.

"While our priority remains to hand over keys to home owners as early as possible, we want to also work towards narrowing the time between the completion of flats and the readiness of other key amenities, community facilities and precinct landscaping, so that our residents can enjoy them soon after they move in," Tan said, adding that progress on the committee's efforts will be made available when ready.

The bridge connecting Tampines GreenOpal to the MRT station will only be ready in early 2026. But the wait is not dampening Tai's excitement at getting the keys to her new home, which was a few months earlier than what she and her husband expected.

She said: "Being able to have our own space earlier is definitely our main priority."

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