URA investigating sale of Forestville EC units

SINGAPORE: The Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) said it is still investigating the proposed sale of Forestville executive condominium (EC) on 28 December.

In a response to queries from Channel NewsAsia, URA said the Controller of Housing (COH) had instructed the developer, Hao Yuan Investments, on 28 December not to sell units in the Forestville EC project, pending further investigations.

The statement added "the developer has launched the project with some proposed changes to the development’s plans which had not been approved, and this is not allowed."

Channel NewsAsia understands that the developer had initially received the necessary approvals from URA for the sale.

However, the company had made some changes to the development plans at the eleventh hour and this has prompted URA to step in and stop the sale.

It is believed the URA is currently looking into the entire process leading up to the intended sale.

This includes ensuring the proposed changes to the development plans are in good order.

URA added that "the results of the investigation will help us determine what further actions to take".

Hao Yuan issued a statement on Saturday to clarify that "there were no bookings of units for Forestville EC as originally intended on Dec 28."

Instead, the company said "the balloting process proceeded as usual in order to determine the sequencing order of the applicants."

It added that there were also no booking fees collected and as such there will be no forfeiture.

This came following reports on Friday claiming that about 20 per cent of the dual—key units at Forestville were snapped up within two and a half hours of the launch.

The developers have included about 200 such units in the 653—unit project.

Dual—key units are designed to contain separate living spaces under one roof.

— CNA/xq