Hougang flats and precincts to get facelift

By Andrea Ong, The Straits Times, 5 Aug 2012

Several flats and precincts in Hougang are in for a facelift, as two national upgrading programmes make their way to the constituency for the first time.

Six blocks in Hougang Avenue 3 - Blocks 1, 2, 6, 7, 24 and 25 - are now eligible for the Home Improvement Programme (HIP), which repairs spalling concrete and leaking ceilings, for example, in ageing flats.

Meanwhile three precincts along Hougang Avenue 5 - Blocks 320 to 328, 332 to 341 and 351 to 363 - qualify for the Neighbourhood Renewal Programme (NRP). Under this scheme, residents will be consulted on possible improvements such as covered linkways and fitness corners.

The upgrading plans were announced by grassroots adviser Desmond Choo at a National Day dinner at Hougang Community Club last night.

Mr Choo had supported the nominations for these schemes put up by Hougang MP Png Eng Huat and the Workers' Party-run Aljunied-Hougang Town Council.

A constituency's grassroots adviser must support the upgrading schemes before they can proceed.

While residents have to vote for HIP and NRP before they can go ahead, Mr Choo said he was confident of the residents' support.

Not only would the schemes give the estate "a fresh facelift", some possible changes - such as replacing floor tiles in toilets with ones that are less slippery - would make homes more elderly friendly, he said.

He also noted that residents had given resounding support to the Lift Upgrading Programme. Five of the six precincts eligible for the scheme have voted in favour of the upgrading and work has started in one precinct, said Mr Choo.

He pledged to work closely with Mr Png and the town council in implementing HIP and NRP. The People's Action Party's Mr Choo lost to the WP's Mr Png by 24.2 percentage points in the May by-election.

Said Mr Choo: "Right from the start, my commitment to (Mr Png) was that anything that is useful to residents, I'll be there to support.

"Right now, I think the key thing for both of us is to make sure that we deliver this as soon as we can to the residents," he added.

Last night, Mr Png told The Sunday Times he was happy "the Government has recognised the needs of Hougang residents and accepted some of Aljunied-Hougang Town Council's nominations for HIP and NRP".

But he said there are other areas in Hougang that need upgrading urgently, adding: "I hope the Government will approve more of our nominations going forward."

The upgrading issue has long been a thorn for opposition wards like Hougang, a WP stronghold for 21 years. Previous PAP leaders have warned that opposition wards would be placed at the end of the queue for upgrading programmes.

Asked if the new schemes signalled the end of such thinking, Mr Choo said: "This very definitively shows that if the residents need it, the Government will answer the call for it and the residents will get it. As long as ground workers like myself and Mr Png continue to work hard and lobby hard, I think we will be able to bring more (such changes)."

Cashier Joey Tan, 52, who was among the 550 residents who attended last night's dinner, is looking forward to more covered linkways to shelter residents from their homes to bus stops when it rains. She said politics should not feature in such upgrading schemes, adding: "As long as both sides can help the people, that's good."