2/14/2013
Under building and overbuilding are both troublemakers
The Govt did a marvelous job in solving the housing problems left behind by the colonial masters. It was sheer neglect, disinterest, to build for a growing population after the war. But that was what colonial masters were. They only looked after their own interests, not so much the interests of the colonized people if they could get a way with it.
It was a mammoth task to house a population that was huddled into clusters of attap and zinc roof huts, dilapidated old buildings of cubicles spreaded across the island. The massive rebuilding of the city and country was achieved within a matter of a decade or slightly more. The people were well housed and with a few to spare. One could buy a flat like walking into a departmental store.
Then came the brilliant idea and logic of a super talent. Too many flats not sold meant a lot of assets unused or under used and a heavy cost to the Govt. Get rid of them! And so they did. Then came the next flawed logic. Build only when the demand was firmed. Place the order and pay the deposit first. Only then would the Govt start to acquire the land, do the planning and design and then build. It would take 4 or 5 years. But that was the price for a clinically systematic Govt that prided itself of super efficiency at the expense of the people. There would be no wastage. Every unit of flat built would have an immediate buyer/owner who waited for the last 5 years.
The policy was not to build in advance but to under build. And now we have the gigantic problems of today with housing prices shooting through the roof, with many young people having to wait and wait for their flats. With many marriages delayed, babies delayed and all the consequences of a housing shortage.
Now another new and enlightened wisdom has surfaced. We shall build in advance, we shall over build to provide for future needs. Whoa, like dat oso can. Macam masak masak. Yesterday like that cannot, not like that is the brilliant answer to a wronged policy. Would anyone be crying out loud that a few hundred billions of assets be laid in waiting and costing a lot of money and interests to the Govt? Tiok boh? How can build so many flats in advance and waiting for buyers? Now, who is so clever to come up with such a policy? KNN, I also dunno what is right or wrong, what is good policy or bad policy. Toss a coin to see which one is good or bad.
Is this what super talent is all about? Is this why we have to pay millions for the crème ala crème?
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14 comments:
Aiyah Mr RB, didn't our PM said: Let's take it as a learning experience.
Throughout his watch, most of his policies are learning experiences at our expense.
Hi RB,
In your anger with the Govt, you fail to grasp the sheer brilliance of their strategy! After building so many flats with no occupiers,the Govt will import more foreigners to stay in the flats and give them PRs and citizenship if they satisfy certain minimum occupation period.
Redbean
The supertalent had listened to the FEEDBACK caused in your article of 10 Nov 2005.
Guess that the low prices for housing should be your answer BASED On Your Silence and based on
your 10 Nov 2005 article.
CAN WE KNOW when the housing market will crash so that we can be rich like you.
So a better and cheaper housing for us and kids and grandkids in future.
That clown in charge of under building also messed up transport policies. He is still collecting his pension, absent half the time in Parliament, if I am not wrong. He can afford to retire and feed his 3 generations down the road while our kids have to be saddled with 30 yr mortgages
As usual, rb is spot on.
PAP nowadays change govt. policies as frequently as we change our underwear.
Don't believe me?
Anybody here knows for sure what is the latest HDB eligibility criteria?
Or the bewildering array of grants?
As a loyal customer of this 10 star hotel, I would like every square inch of the hotel's property to be managed. The green parts should be the standard of the Botanical Gardens. The commercial parts should be clean, efficient and business like -- Raffles Place, the fun and leisure parts like Marina Bay standard, and the living areas like District 9, 10 and 11.
So my "advice" is to build and managed the fuck out of every square in/cm/meter/pick yur unit - and build the shit out of the place.
There should be abundance i.e. adequate built-in redundance --to accomodate at least 50 % more than 6.9 million.
So start building now, and do not stop until targets are reached.
Build, build, build and up the quality of the greenery too. Plant more trees. Plant trees on and in buildings. Get wild and inventive with the architecture and engineering.
Raise the motherfucking bar?
Can you meet the challenge, Singapore?
Got can-do spirit?
To underbuild was to find and get a reason to raise the price of housing, it was intended.
To build in excess is for reason to get foreigners to buy them(property). Again it was and is planned and done on purpose.
patriot
There were pockets of ghost HDB towns, flats that nobody wanted to buy many years ago due to the Asian financial crisis in 1997-98. Whole blocks built, but nobody bought. Sinkies balls all shrink to nothing at that time. Therefore Elites instituted BTO - only when there is demand, then they build. It was the RIGHT policy at the RIGHT time. And for the next 10 years from 1998, some sinkies balls remain shrunk.
I grew up in a one bedroom flat with four other siblings. It was like growing up in a prison cell. THis gov past and present is just so greedy, evil and selfish. All they can think about is earning big bucks from the average person who have to work so hard and get so little pay. They never care about the people bt the people always continue to vote for the same shitty party to be gov. I hope the people can learn and stop voting for the shitty party.
Of cos adversity can bring out the best and worst in a person. I am residing in a truly first world country, own a freehold house and an european car and a bit of land for gardening purpose.
@anon 609:
Here folks is an example of why democracy in Singapore will continue to fail, because you motherfuckers still don't "get it".
Singapore is a constitutional republic, parliament works/ is modeled on the Westminster system. The people CHOOSE the smart-arses to represent them.
Thus when one exclaims/ ejaculates zestfully:
>> THis gov past and present is just so greedy, evil and selfish.
The government comes from the people. The people MAKE their government.
Evil selfish control-freak government COMES FROM evil selfish control-freak people.
Still got thick skull?
@anon 615:
Have you ever wondered what makes a cuntree First World and another Turd Whirled?
It is the collective character of the people, and their CULTURE.
Western culture -- the stuff first world cuntrees are made from -- rests (I'm simplifying and generalizing) on Renaissance ideas -- that great REVOLT AGAINST AUTHORITY -- church, king, feudal aristocracy -- which resulted in ideas that CELEBRATED The Individual.
Essentially, every individual regardless of his social status was entitled to self ownership and thus could not be treated as "chattel" or the property of "others". Unfortunately this only applied to White Christian Folks, other "races" were considered "sub-human". Fortunately, that has long been fixed.
Social and cultural institutions were created and all of them (to a degree) uphold this "sovereignty" of the individual.
To a certain degree, the basic respect for an individual -- including his human, civil and individual rights and liberties is still upheld today -- as shakey as western civilization is after being bombarded and corrupted with "bad ideas" for over a long time.
Still, you can go to ANY First World Cuntree and have your day in court if your rights or liberties are violated -- even if you are a pauper or a "nobody".
In Singapore the saddest part of the culture is that because people are so kiasu kiasi (the root is FEAR) they behave very poorly toward each other. Again, I am generalising -- I know many Singaporeans who are upstanding fine examples of humanity.
Overbuilding is better than underbuilding cos people will have a CHOICE and thats what true democracy is about.
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