Out of the 194 requests, 17 came from future owners at Waterway Sunrise II, whose building contractor was terminated by HDB last August due to failure to meet project milestones. Image: Google Street View
The Housing and Development Board (HDB) has received 194 requests for interim rental housing from flat buyers after some housing projects were delayed due to the pandemic-induced labour and supply shortages, reported The Straits Times (ST).
Of these, 131 families are already living in their rental flats, while 39 will be getting or move in at their units soon. Meanwhile, requests by the remaining 24 families have been withdrawn.
Out of the 194 requests, 17 came from future owners at Waterway Sunrise II – a 1,014-unit Build-To-Order (BTO) project in Punggol.
The HDB revealed that 14 of such households are already living in their rental units, with the remaining three set to receive their units soon.
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The affected flat owners face a one-year delay after the services of Lian Ho Lee Construction, the project’s building contractor, was terminated by HDB last August due to failure to meet project milestones.
The HDB has named Expand Construction as the new building contractor for the project.
“Construction works at Waterway Sunrise II are making steady progress, and there are no further changes to the project completion timeline,” the HDB told ST.
The initial completion date for Block 653A at Waterway Sunrise II was Q1 2020, while the remaining six blocks were originally expected to be completed in Q2 2020.
With the new building contractor, flat buyers are now expected to receive the keys to their new units in Q1 or Q2 of next year, said ST.
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A future flat owner at Waterway Sunrise II, who wanted to be identified only as Ms Tay, is among those who received a two-room interim rental flat.
“As newlyweds, we prefer to have our own space and privacy. Because we managed to get this rental flat, we can still stick to the plan of having a kid this year,” said the 30-year-old as quoted by ST.
Ms Tay has purchased a fridge, washing machine and bed which she also intends to use at her new BTO once it is ready in 2022.
“We were able to choose between a few locations and we picked Punggol so that we can get used to living in this neighbourhood before we move into our BTO flat next year,” she added.
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