Singapore Possible increase in population target
1. The minister for national development reported in parliament that HDB will ramp up BTO projects, with 150 projects to be built by 2025.

2. I searched the news report to find out how many units are comprised in the 150 projects. I could not find any mention. I am disappointed that the minister failed to give relevant information and the media does not ask for this information.

3. I searched the Internet and found a news report that 10 projects comprising 10,000 units were offered recently. I guess that each project would yield about 1,000 units.

4. The 150 projects would probably yield 150,000 units. This is over a period of three years. The annual rate is 50,000 units per year.
This is rather high. The number of marriages each year is about 25,000.

5. Perhaps some of the flats are required to clear the backlog, as the waiting time for a new flat is currently 5 years.

6. It is possible that HDB is building for more foreigners to live in Singapore. We might be aiming to increase our population to 6.9 million, or even 10 million. This was planned in the past.

7. As the MRT network has been expanded considerably during the past ten years, it can probably cope with the increase in population. However, I am not sure if we are building enough schools, hospitals and other facilities to cater for the bigger population.

Tan Kin Lian

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