700,000 new homes by 2030

SINGAPORE: By 2030, Singapore is expected to have 700,000 new homes which will be located in new towns, existing estates and the central region, where 200,000 of these units will be completed by the end of 2016.

According to the Land Use Plan released on Thursday, three new towns will be carved out.

One of them is Bidadari town where 11,000 housing units, both private and public, are expected. Another town will be created in Tampines North, which is slated to have 21,000 units. And, the other will be in Tengah, which will have 55,000 units and be almost the size of Ang Mo Kio Town.

Build—To—Order (BTO) projects can be expected in Bidadari and Tampines North first — in the next two to three years while BTO projects will come on stream in Tengah in the next three to five years.

But it’s not just about creating new towns, mature estates will also be rejuvenated.

Housing will also be developed on vacant land within existing estates across the island.

Under the Housing and Development Board’s (HDB) Remaking Our Heartland programme, more HDB estates will also be improved and this will begin with Punggol, Yishun and Dawson in Queenstown. Other towns like Hougang, East Coast, and Jurong Lake District will follow.

More homes will also be built in the central region, including the Bukit Turf Club, Kallang Riverside, Bukit Brown and Keppel areas.

It’s hoped that this will allow more Singaporeans to live close to where they work.

The government also hopes to let at least 85 per cent of Singaporeans to live within 10 to 15 minutes of a park by 2030 — up from the current 80 per cent.

Park connectors will also be extended from 200 kilometres to 360 kilometres.

A S$43,000—million National Cycling Pilot Programme is also underway to construct dedicated off—road cycling paths in seven HDB towns to facilitate intra—town cycling.

— CNA/ck