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Ang Mo Kio SERS: Residents upset with having to top up money, say "how many more years must I actually work to pay off all my debts?"

The Selective En-bloc Redevelopment Scheme (SERS) in Ang Mo Kio faced a lot of backlash from residents, especially the elderly.

Earlier this month, the HDB announced two new options for replacement flats that are now being offered to residents at Ang Mo Kio Ave 3 selected for the Selective En bloc Redevelopment Scheme (Sers).

The first option will allow affected residents to purchase a three-room or larger replacement flat on a 50-year lease.

The second involves a lease buyback scheme, which will allow residents to buy a new replacement flat on a short lease.

We head down to Ang Mo Kio to speak to some residents about their thoughts on the options. 

The first resident we spoke to said that his unit was valued at about S$400,000. But a neighbouring four-room flat was valued at more than $500,000, he said.

“We have to chip in about $100,000. On top of that, we have to do renovations. Nowadays, renovations are very expensive. Easily talking about $50,000 to $100,000. So if this goes through, (we) probably have to come in at least $200K, which I think is quite a big amount for us”.

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He also added that the new location that they would be shifted to be a bit more remote and inaccessible. When he and some other neighbours spoke, they felt that their current blocks were located near an MRT station, whereas the place they would be moving to would not be located close to an MRT station. “Probably got to walk for five to ten minutes”, he said.

Mrs Ho

Another resident we spoke to, Mrs Ho, said that on Apr 7 when HDB came to their door and gave them the documents for SERS, she felt that she was forced to leave. She added that she was already above 45 years of age, and her husband above 50. There were many others like her and her husband.

“How many more years? We are thinking if we move to a replacement flat, we have to retake our loan. So how many more years must I actually work to pay off all my debts?” she asked.

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She added that 80 per cent or so of the residents in the four blocks affected by SERS had all already fully paid up their flats and were debt free.

“We do not want to go through the whole cycle again. And the other thing is over here, there’s two markets for us to walk, is less than 5 minutes. Whereas the new replacement flat is like in-between two schools, and behind (it) are all jungle, forest, whatsoever, it is very inconvenient for us”, Mrs Ho said.

She explained that many of the residents signed a petition which was sent to PM Lee, and they received a response from HDB. She said that when considering both the options given by HDB, “To us is like it’s really bohua (not worth it) and a lot of the elderly here, we know each other, don’t make us move to these kinds of places”.

Yet another resident

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Yet another resident said: “the 50-year lease option is almost half (the lease term) compared to before. The money that they paid us is very little. We still have to buy a new unit and do renovations. How is that enough?” she asked.

“it would be ideal to change a unit for a unit, we don’t need to pay that much. Now they are deliberating what to do, and discussing further. Many of them (residents) signed (a petition) and went to see the MP. Hopefully, they can top-up more for us” she added.

“Asking us to move, we do not want to move. We’ve lived here for so long”, she said. /TISG