SINGAPORE — About 6,400 flats in the new Bidadari estate making up more than 70 per cent of the project have been completed, with the remainder set for completion by 2025, the Housing and Development Board (HDB) said on Sunday (May 21).

Bidadari was first unveiled as a new housing area in 2013, envisioned as a place where people could live in a tranquil garden-like environment.

The area comprises four districts — Alkaff, Bartley Heights, Park Edge and Woodleigh — with a total of 12 Build-to-Order (BTO) housing developments.

Construction for these projects started before 2020 but was delayed by the Covid-19 pandemic.

HDB also aims to complete 20,000 new flats in 2023 and to launch more public housing across various towns.

During a visit to the Woodleigh district on Sunday, National Development Minister Desmond Lee said that about 5,500 units will be launched on May 30 across five BTO projects — two in Tengah, one in Bedok, one in Serangoon and one in Kallang-Whampoa. 

The Kallang-Whampoa development, which is a prime location housing project, will have a waiting time of four years, while the rest will have a waiting period of above three years.

PRESERVING BIODIVERSITY

The Woodleigh district, comprising 2,685 flats, including 312 rental units, is the first among the four districts in Bidadari to be completed.

As of April 30, more than 90 per cent of BTO flat owners in Woodleigh have collected the keys to their new homes.

The Alkaff district, the largest in the estate with more than 4,000 units, is slated to be completed by mid-2024, while the targeted completion for the Bartley Heights and Park Edge districts is mid-2025.

During the planning and designing process for Bidadari, the HDB partnered with the National Parks Board and engaged the Nature Society (Singapore) to explore ways to integrate housing developments with the surrounding environment.

Suggestions were then incorporated into the estate’s design wherever possible so as to preserve the rich biodiversity in the area. 

These included retaining a 1-hectare hillock in Woodleigh district for migratory birds to stop over and constructing a 19m-wide land bridge to serve as an eco-link from the hillock to Bidadari Park across the road.

Over 300 new trees and 7,500 shrubs were replanted in the hillock as well, to complement the existing vegetation and to help create new diversified bird habitats.