Selective En bloc Redevelopment Scheme is introduced

The Selective En bloc Redevelopment Scheme (SERS) was first announced by then Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong in his National Day Rally speech on 20 August 1995.^[1] The scheme was introduced as part of the estates renewal strategy by the Housing and Development Board (HDB)^[2] and is loosely modelled after the private sector’s en bloc sales.^[3]

Through the scheme, the HDB identifies and acquires precincts in older estates that have high redevelopment potential. These precincts are usually sited on prime land located near Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) stations or on sites where land has not been well utilised. The blocks are acquired, demolished and then rebuilt for higher density living.^[4] In the acquisition process, affected owners are offered a new 99-year lease on new flats built nearby at a designated replacement site as well as given monetary compensation.^[5] Home owners are thus able to improve their living environment without leaving the neighbourhood. The scheme also helps to rejuvenate the old estate as the new flats bring in new and younger residents.^[6] SERS complements the Main Upgrading and Interim Upgrading programmes and is selectively applied to estates where the benefits of redevelopment are higher than upgrading.^[7]

Under SERS, the government acquires land compulsorily under the Land Acquisition Act.^[8] At the time of its implementation, each owner was compensated the cost of the flat based on the prevailing market rate plus an ex gratia payment to help defray renovation costs, offered a new replacement flat in the vicinity on a 99-year lease, a 20 percent discount on the price of the new flat up to a cap of S$30,000 as well as a waiver of the HDB resale levy.^[9]

Sixteen four-storey blocks at Boon Tiong Road, Tiong Bahru, were the first to be earmarked for SERS. Some 384 households were affected by this SERS project.^[10]

References
1. Ministry of Information and the Arts. (1995, August 20). National Day Rally Address by Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong, Speech in English, August 1995 [Speech] (pp. 62–63). Retrieved December 27, 2013, from National Archives of Singapore website: http://archivesonline.nas.sg/
2. Housing and Development Board. (1996). Annual report 1995 (pp. 42–43). Singapore: Housing and Development Board. Call no.: RCLOS 711.4095957 SIN-[AR].
3. Ministry of Information and the Arts, 20 Aug 1995, National Day Rally Address by Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong, Speech in English, August 1995 [Speech], pp. 62–63.
4. Ministry of Information and the Arts, 20 Aug 1995, National Day Rally Address by Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong, Speech in English, August 1995 [Speech], pp. 62–63.
5. Housing and Development Board, 1996, p. 43.
6. Housing and Development Board. (2013, December 19). Strong support for the Selective En Bloc Redevelopment Scheme. Retrieved December 27, 2013, from HDB Infoweb: http://www.hdb.gov.sg/fi10/fi10296p.nsf/PressReleases/EE7F73A6804DA3D148257C450027BC68
7. Ministry of Information and the Arts, 20 Aug 1995, National Day Rally Address by Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong, Speech in English, August 1995 [Speech], pp. 62–63.
8. Williams, A. (1995, August 23). Tiong Bahru flats first in redevelopment scheme. The Straits Times, p. 1. Retrieved from NewspaperSG.
9. Housing and Development Board, 1996, p. 43.
10. The Straits Times, 23 Aug 1995, p. 1