Two-room HDB units to be built mainly in non-mature estates
By
Mavis Toh
THE two-room flats that the Housing Board is building again will mainly be in non-mature estates and will come with elderly- and disabled-friendly features.
These 45 sq m units will have ramps at the main entrance and the toilets, and have wider toilet doors for easier wheelchair access.
The eye-viewer at the front door will be larger than current ones while switches and electricity outlet points will be placed higher so the elderly do not have to stoop to reach them.
Lifts will stop at every floor and larger fonts will be used in signs around the blocks.
Moving across blocks will also be easier as ramps and wider walkways will be installed for the wheelchair-bound.
These features are not found in existing smaller HDB flats.
The HDB gave these details to The Sunday Times in response to queries about recent news that the board will be ramping up the supply of three-room and smaller flats to around 4,000 over the next two years.
The HDB had stopped building two- and three-room flats in the 1980s as Singaporeans had wanted bigger flats. But these cosy units made a comeback in 2004 because of renewed demand.
Read the full story in today's edition of The Sunday Times.
