If housing and properties are your cup of tea, and you’ve just bought a ring after you’ve applied for a flat, then you would be glad to hear that BTO projects have been listed among the first few to be restarted after the circuit breaker.
Alongside BTOs on the priority list are other critical and time-sensitive projects that cannot be left unattended for too long.
Good News For Anxious Owners and Buyers
Yesterday, National Development Minister, Lawrence Wong, has announced that Build-To-Order (BTO) flats may be among the list of projects that will be prioritised.
Lest you’re wondering what I’m talking about, you might want to wake up from your dreams and know that construction work all over Singapore has ground to a halt due to circuit breaker.
Reader Bao: Circuit breakers run out of stock globally?
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Mr Lawrence Wong said that he understood the anxiety that people may have towards the status of their projects. “It could be public housing, it could be private condominiums, it could be a whole range of projects,” he said.
The following announcement was made yesterday during a press conference.
Priority List to Include Other Crucial Projects
Also on the priority list are projects that cannot be left idle too long, as well as, critical and time-sensitive projects. These include MRT works and the deep tunnel sewerage system.
Despite the resume in activity, Mr Lawrence Wong was firm to highlight that the safety of the workers remains to be the most important.
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“Even if a project is most meritorious of resuming work, if the contractor is unable to show that all of these safeguards are doable… Then they will not be able to resume work, no matter how important that project is,” said the minister.
Government Might Consider to Allow Restarting Other Projects Not on the List
Mr Lawrence Wong added that the government will put into consideration the idea of allowing the restarting of other projects that were left out of the approved priority list.
He said that contractors may be granted the approval to do so if they show that they have the necessary safeguards in place.
Regulations and Measures Put in Place to Ensure Safety of Workers
Some of the necessary safeguards include putting in place systems that would allow the tracking of the workers’ health on a daily.
Contractors were also told to ensure that these workers are housed in the same accommodation when working in the same project. Finally, they ought to have a dedicated transport with distancing measures.
“If the contractor comes along and says, ‘Look, you have not prioritised me to be at the start of the list, but I am ready because I have a temporary dorm on the worksite that can house this many workers, I am ready with all the precautions that you have required in your checklist, I tick all the boxes and I can show you’ – then we will certainly be prepared for that particular contractor to start work as well,” said Mr Wong.
So if you’ve been waiting for your keys, don’t worry: most BTO projects underpromise and overdeliver, so there shouldn’t be a delay.
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