Government to build dorms for foreign workers

This is said to house up to 100,000 workers in the longer term.

The government aims to build 11 purpose-built dormitories (PBDs) for foreign workers in the next one to two years, according to National Development Minister Lawrence Wong.

This is part of a new building programme to house up to 100,000 workers to replace the short-to-medium-term housing and will take several years to complete. PBDs will have amenities such as minimarts, barber services, indoor recreation facilities, and will have blocks spaced out to ensure good ventilation and ready access to medical care and support.

The authorities will also create additional space to house about 60,000 workers by the end of this year, according to the Ministry of National Development (MND) and the Ministry of Manpower (MOM).

This will be achieved through new quick build dormitories (QBDs) or temporary structures that can be assembled quickly, with each QBD housing 500 to 1,000 workers per hectare, depending on the site conditions.

The QBDs will last for around two to three years and will have a capacity of around 25,000 workers.

Additional construction temporary quarters (CTQs) will also be built by contractors to house their workers at the worksite and cut down on transportation needs. Discussions are being held with the contractors on the additional CTQs that they will need for their workers.