SINGAPORE — The Housing and Development Board (HDB) will reimburse an estimated S$5.1 million to nearly 900 buyers of a Punggol Build-to-Order (BTO) project after its completion was pushed back by more than a year, HDB said on Saturday (March 4).

Launched in February 2017, Waterway Sunrise II was originally slated for completion by mid-2021 with a Delivery Possession Date (DPD) slated between March and June 2022.

The DPD refers to the legal contractual date by which HDB is required under the Agreement for Lease to deliver possession of the flat.

However, the construction timeline of the project was first pushed back due to the failure of its original contractor, Lian Ho Lee Construction, and then by the manpower shortage and supply disruptions brought about by the Covid-19 pandemic. 

Waterway Sunrise II is among the ongoing BTO projects that suffered the most delays during the pandemic and is one of two BTO projects, alongside Anchorvale Village in Sengkang, where the total delays have exceeded one year.

As the DPD was crossed, HDB will be making compensation to Waterway Sunrise II flat buyers for the delay.

In total, the 896 households of Waterway Sunrise II who booked their flat by October 2021 will be eligible for the reimbursement amount, said HDB. 

The flat buyers will receive the reimbursement within two months after completing the flat purchase and accepting the settlement agreement, it added. 

The settlement agreement states the exact reimbursement sum the flat buyer is eligible for, based on the actual period of delay and selling price of the booked flat. 

Flat buyers would typically need to submit proof of their out-of-pocket qualifying expenses to receive the reimbursement.

But to minimise inconvenience to flat buyers, HDB will be offering to pay all flat buyers of Waterway Sunrise II "the maximum reimbursement sum that they would be eligible for, without them having to submit any claims/proof of the expenses".

Flat buyers of the first four completed blocks have since been reimbursed, said the Housing Board.

The estimated reimbursement amount for the affected flat buyers of all seven blocks ranges from S$1,000 to S$10,500, it said, adding that the average reimbursement sum would be S$5,750.

"The total reimbursement amount for all 896 households is estimated to be S$5,156,700," HDB added.

ALL BLOCKS AT WATERWAY SUNRISE II COMPLETED

All seven blocks in the Waterway Sunrise II BTO project have been completed, with units in five of the blocks being handed over to flat buyers progressively, HDB said on Saturday.

About 58 per cent of the 951 flat buyers have collected the keys to their new home since December 2022, it added.

Final checks on the remaining two blocks are ongoing, said the Housing Board, adding that buyers can expect to receive the keys to their flat by end of this month.

In order to keep construction of the Waterway Sunrise II BTO project on track amid the severe disruptions caused by the pandemic, HDB brought in a new contractor Expand Construction and "worked very closely" with the company to "reduce the extent of project delays by as much as possible".

HDB also rendered "various assistance measures so that the project could be completed safely and expeditiously without any compromise in its quality".

These included securing critical construction materials supply and migrant manpower resources during the pandemic, as well as prioritising manpower allocation to the project to help the contractor expedite construction works, said HDB.

With the "steady recovery of the construction industry" following the pandemic, HDB said it is on track to complete and deliver keys to buyers of 20,000 flats across 22 housing projects this year.

On the sidelines of a visit to the Waterway Sunrise II BTO project, National Development Minister Desmond Lee added on Saturday that "all flats delayed by Covid-19 will be ready soon". 

"As we speak now, 80,000 flats are under construction at this very moment," he said.

"But the tempo will go up because we want to make sure we complete all the delayed flats and we hope that in about two years' time, all the flats that have been delayed by Covid should be completed." CNA