VERS may need involvement of private developers: Lawrence Wong

More flats are expected be eligible to VERS compared to SERS.

The government willl ‘not rule out the possibility’ of getting private developers involved to implement the Voluntary Early Redevelopment Scheme (VERS) as they will still study the suggestion carefully, national development minister Lawrence Wong said in Parliament.

Wong noted that some private development have actually been injected time to time in the implementation of the Selective En Bloc Redevelopment Scheme (SERS).

It was member of parliament (MP) Cheryl Chan that asked Wong about the considerations for the planning or VERS and whether private developers will have a role in the said scheme.

“Our aim is to redevelop public housing estates, so we will ensure that any redevelopment is done in a way that preserves the character of our HDB towns and supports HDB’s mission to provide affordable and quality homes for Singaporeans,” the minister explained.

The VERS was introduced by prime minister Lee Hsien Loong during his speech at the National Day Rally 2018 to prevent having towns to experience becoming construction sites all over again, with cranes all over the place.

In an earlier statement, Wong said that the government will start the transition to VERS when SERS hits its limit.

“In the case of VERS, we expect more flats to be eligible, as the intention is to space out the redevelopment of the town,” he noted in his Parliament speech. “But the compensation terms for VERS will be less generous than SERS, because we will be redeveloping land that is more built up.”

The minister said that because of such situation, residents of an estate may vote on whether they want to take part in the VERS scheme.