THE Ministry of National Development (MND) has given the go-ahead for a foreign workers dormitory at Serangoon Gardens.

The dormitory will house manufacturing and service workers on the former Serangoon Gardens Technical School school site.

To address the concerns of residents, the dorm capacity will be capped at 600 for a start. The ministry will consider increasing it to a maximum of 1,000 in future if there is a need and after further consultations.

To further ease the disruption to residents, a new access road will be built so that buses ferrying the workers will not have to go through the estate and the existing entrance at Burghly Drive  will be closed.

There will also be 'house rules' at the dorm to minimise disturbance to the neighbourhood.

News that a disused school in Serangoon Gardens was to be converted into a foreign-worker dormitory stirred a big outcry among residents there last month.

The residents have been vocal in their objections to problems such as littering, loitering, vice and traffic congestion.

About 1,400 of the 7,000 residents there signed a petition against having 1,000 workers housed in the old school building in their estate.

National Development Minister Mah Bow Tan on Sept 17 took the opportunity to raise a larger issue - that of balancing the economic growth that foreign workers bring with the 'disamenities' to local residents.

He said it was impossible to segregate the foreign worker population - now at 577,000, excluding 180,000 domestic maids - so Singaporeans must 'be prepared to see them and share with them our common spaces'.

More non-domestic foreign workers could also arrive in the next few years.

Singapore now has 25 purpose built dormitories providing 95,000 bed spaces.

The Government has formed an inter-ministry committee to look into housing, infrastructure and amenities for foreign workers.