More homes to be built near MRT stations

In the next decade and beyond, more homes could be built in the vacant land near MRT stations such as Commonwealth, Queenstown and Bishan, which is big enough to accommodate more than 10,000 units.

This is to meet the demand for homes in these popular areas, said National Development Minister Mah Bow Tan, who unveiled the Urban Redevelopment Authority’s Concept Plan 2011 yesterday.

The homes will be progressively built in tandem with population growth. “But this doesn’t mean we are only going to build 10,000 homes. There would be many areas where we would be releasing land for homes. The roll-out, how much land we set aside for the residential units would depend on the take up rate,” said Mr Mah.

While the concept plan – which charts Singapore’s land use and infrastructure development in the next 40 to 50 years – has factored in a population size of 6.5 million, Mr Mah said the actual size of the population in 50 years will be determined by factors such as Singapore’s economic conditions.

Beyond the mid-term, areas like Tengah will also be developed into new towns. Meanwhile, Choa Chu Kang will be further developed as early as next year and the same will be done for other existing towns like Punggol, Sengkang and Yishun, so that more homes can be built. Communal facilities like parks and places of worship will also be developed.

And to help reduce commuting times, the job-worker distribution across the island will be re-balanced.

This means injecting more housing in the central and west region, where there are proportionately more jobs than homes, while the north, which has the opposite, will see more commercial and industrial activities.

Following the Workers’ Party’s (WP) reiteration on Wednesday that prices of new flats should be pegged to median income, National Development Minister Mah Bow Tan has said that the real intent of this was to reduce prices, which would be an “asset depreciation policy”.

“All the markets are inter-linked … So, when you reduce new flat prices, there’ll be an impact on the resale flat market,” he said.

“What happens to those people who want to sell who are in mortgage arrears? What about those who are now in negative equity? These are some of the repercussions of the things that the WP is suggesting in this manifesto which they have not pointed out.”

Mr Mah, who spoke to reporters on the sidelines of the Urban Redevelopment Authority’s Corporate Seminar, said a price reduction means the Government would have to provide additional subsidies.

“Is (the money) going to come from education? From healthcare? From defence? (The WP) didn’t say. Or if they said, ‘no it’s not going to come from any of this’, are they going to raise taxes? Or are they going to dip into reserves?”

He defended the PAP’s approach: “We’re proud of the asset enhancement policy. (It) has given almost all Singaporeans a home of their own, a home that’s also an asset … that grows in value over time.”