Minister of National Development Mr Khaw Boon Wan has sought to reassure Singaporeans that the government would make sure there's enough housing. Affordability of such homes is also assured as "Pricing is also within my control".
He said the government had built about 25 000 new homes each year over the last two years. The assumption here is that the government has the means to continue building MORE housing over the coming years. Unfortunately he did not specify HOW the government is going to do so.
More than one government minister has in the past mentioned the lack of land in Singapore. The retro-active building of eldercare facilities have moved affected residents sufficiently to register their misgivings to the authorities. Considering that the average Singaporean is rather apathetic, this is quite an achievement by the authorities.
Mr Khaw however did not provide any details of how he is going to achieve this. Is growing the land area of Singapore also within his control? Is the quality of the living environment going to be affected? Already our environment is being marred by 50plus story housing popping up all over Singapore, it will not be long before if you want to see the sky, you have to look straight upwards. Not to say of ideas for building underground being seriously considered.
Given his record thus far, his "I'm okay with it" wrt to the purchase of Brompton bikes and his "I'll be monitoring it" wrt to shoebox sized apartments and 50 year mortages, I think Singaporeans should be even MORE worried than assured by his remarks. So Mr Khaw, how EXACTLY do you intend to deliver on your assurances? I'm sure the directors of the gold 'investment' company, Genneva were equally assuring when telling their clients that their investments are 'safe'. Hah!
Excuse me for being cynical, but the current frenetic pace of construction of homes is driven only by political objectives of hopefully retaining enough votes to win the coming election. This is the can kicking, take the less painful road for their (PAP) governments' own (rather than the country's) interest.
If at this juncture the present day governmen is already abdicating its long term responsibility to the people for shorter term political gains, what more when the day of reckoning arrives in the not too distant future when the challenges and constraints are even more acute? Do you expect the government then to suddenly become cognisant of their obligations/responsibilities and then do the right things?
I doubt it. You only need to take a look at the policies of Ben Bernanke, US Fed chairman in tackling monetary and fiscal challenges of the US government. I can tell you that the people in our present government are no better than Ben Bernanke in addressing the challenges currently facing us.
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