MND’s mission is:

• To develop world-class infrastructure;
• To create a vibrant and sustainable living environment; and
• To build rooted and cohesive communities in Singapore.

A total budget of $1.99 billion has been allocated to MND in FY2007 to achieve this mission.

MND aims to achieve the following outcomes:

• Affordable and quality public housing
• Rejuvenate older estates
• Best built environment for our people
• Singapore as a City in a Garden
• Ensure a Resilient Supply of Safe Food
• Safeguard Animal and Plant Health, as well as Public Health from Zoonotic Diseases

Affordable and Quality Public Housing

$398 million will be spent to subsidise public housing. This constitutes 20% of MND’s budget.

Rejuvenate Older Estates

$953 million will be spent to rejuvenate older housing estates through various estate renewal programmes so that residents can enjoy improved living conditions. This constitutes 47.9% of MND’s budget.

To achieve this outcome, we will be undertaking the following major initiatives and programmes: -

Main Upgrading Programme (MUP) and Interim Upgrading Programme (IUP)/IUP Plus

• 12,602 flats will be upgraded under the Main Upgrading Programme (MUP) and Interim Upgrading Programme (IUP)/IUP Plus.
• The MUP provides improvements to HDB blocks, within the flats and to the entire precinct. The improvements that residents value include, upgrading of existing bathrooms and toilets, upgrading and adding lifts that stop at every floor where technically feasible, covered linkways and drop-off porches.
• The IUP offers estate improvements such as covered linkways, fresh coats of paint and new letter-boxes. Under IUP Plus, more flat owners can benefit from earlier direct lift access to every floor and enjoy the benefits of interim upgrading as well.

Lift Upgrading Programme

• 5,876 flats will enjoy direct access to newer and faster lifts under the Lift Upgrading Programme.

Selective En-bloc Redevelopment Scheme (SERS)

• Residents of about 3,700 flats will receive compensation for their properties acquired under the Selective En-bloc Redevelopment Scheme (SERS). SERS optimises land-use and presents a unique opportunity for residents living in older HDB estates to upgrade their flats to new and better ones on fresh 99-year leases, while preserving family and community ties built over the years.
  
  

Housing Estate Management Programme

• $98 million of operating grants to Town Councils to help cover service and conservancy costs.
• $60 million to improve the public facilities in the public and private housing estates. The improvement to public housing estates will allow residents in HDB precincts to enjoy the conveniences of facilities like walkways and children’s playgrounds. Upgrading works for selected private housing estates would include park-related and road-related upgrading works, improving connectivity and accessibility to/within the estates, and enhancing of estate identity.
  

Best built environment for our people

The Building and Construction Authority (BCA) aims to shape a safe, high-quality, sustainable and user-friendly built environment for Singapore. Our vision is to provide a best built environment for Singapore, our Distinctive Global City. This will be achieved by:

• ensuring high standards of building safety;
• promoting quality excellence; and
• championing sustainability and barrier-free accessibility in our built environment.
  

A total of $40 million will be allocated in FY2007 to achieve these outcomes. This constitutes 2.0% of MND’s budget.

BCA will be undertaking the following major initiatives and programmes to achieve these outcomes:

• To enhance the safety regulatory framework, BCA is strengthening the Building Control Act and Regulations, introducing a licensing scheme for builders and specialist builders, and working on the formation of a panel of renowned international experts in building safety to review our current rules and practices for further improvement.
• To work towards quality excellence in the built environment, BCA is promoting wider adoption of its quality systems to cover a greater variety of buildings. The aim is to continually raise the industry average CONQUAS score.
• Up to $70 million is set aside for the next five years to implement the various initiatives under its Green Building Masterplan. The industry will be able to tap on the $50 million MND Research Fund in the next five years to intensify research and development efforts in green building technologies and energy efficiency. Another $20 million is budgeted over the next three years to promote the design and construction of more green buildings in Singapore through an incentive scheme. This scheme will offer cash incentives to developers and building owners who adopt a wider use of green building design, technologies and practices.
• $40 million is also allocated over the next five years to champion barrier-free accessibility for the built environment. BCA will be implementing its Master Plan for Barrier-Free Accessibility, where the Code of Barrier-Free Accessibility will be reviewed and specific high-traffic areas like Orchard Road will be targeted for upgrading. An Accessibility Fund has also been set up to encourage owners to upgrade their existing private buildings to provide basic barrier-free access to/within their buildings.
  
  
  

Singapore as a City in a Garden

The National Parks Board (NParks) aims to develop Singapore into a City in a Garden to meet the lifestyle and recreation needs of an increasingly sophisticated population, and to enhance Singapore’s attractiveness as a destination for foreign businesses and talents amidst increasing regional competition. NParks plans to realise the City in a Garden vision through three broad strategic thrusts, namely to strengthen our greenery infrastructure, develop Singapore as a Centre for Landscaping Excellence, and building community ownership.

A total budget of $170 million has been allocated to NParks in FY2007 to achieve this. This constitutes 8.5% of MND’s budget.

To achieve this outcome, we will be undertaking several major initiatives and programmes, including:

• Park Connectors
  The Park Connector Network is an island-wide network of green spaces that link up major parks, nature sites and housing estates in Singapore. When the entire network is completed, it will form a green network, spanning over 300km across the whole island, making it convenient to travel from park to park, and transforming our island into one big garden.
• Gardens By the Bay
  The Gardens by the Bay will occupy 101 ha of prime land by the water and will become part of Marina Bay. Situated at the heart of Singapore’s next phase of development as a global city, the Garden is an integral part of Singapore’s City in a Garden vision in which the island-state is woven into a floral tapestry. Under this plan, Gardens by the Bay will capture the essence of Singapore as the premier tropical Garden City with the perfect environment in which to live, work and play.
• Streetscape Greenery Master Plan (SGMP)
  NParks is implementing the Streetscape Greenery Master Plan, which is a blueprint to accentuate, enhance and revitalize the Garden City, through intensifying our streetscapes to create unique and distinctive identities for clusters of roads at strategic locations.
• Skyrise Greenery
  To complement the lush streetscape greenery, NParks’ greening strategy is now moving skywards through the greening of rooftops and facades of high-rise buildings. Skyrise greenery helps to ensure optimal land use as well as improve the environment for quality living.
• Develop Singapore as a Centre for Landscaping Excellence
  The focus will be on manpower development and raising skills standards through certification and job redesign. Effort will also be put in to upgrade industry image in tandem with the overall image of gardening. NParks also aims to create a hub for Tropical Landscape Research, Knowledge and Expertise.
• Building Community Ownership
  NParks has extended the breadth of community participation through “Community in Bloom”, a programme initiated by NParks to encourage and facilitate the public to take up gardening, individually or as a community activity. Other government agencies, grassroots bodies, and non-government organizations are key partners in the “Community in Bloom” programme. Programmes like the “Adopt-A-Park” and “Parks Watch Scheme” also help to inculcate an appreciation for greenery.
  
  

Ensure a Resilient Supply of Safe Food

$47 million will be spent to ensure the safety of all food from production to retail and to provide Singapore with a stable supply of wholesome food. This constitutes 2.4% of MND’s budget.

Key programmes include:

• Adopt a risk management approach based on international food safety standards to ensure a safe food supply.
• Diversify food sources through transfer of technology to develop aquaculture and vegetable production in the region, seeking potential overseas sources and promotion of product substitution.
• Optimise local production by encouraging farms to adopt good agricultural practices, improved technology and modern farming methods.
• Strengthen AVA’s integrated food safety programme and upgrading of food testing capabilities.
• Increase public awareness of food safety as a shared responsibility of the food industry and consumers.
  
  

Safeguard Animal and Plant Health, as well as Public Health from Zoonotic Diseases

$17 million will be set aside to prevent and control the introduction of animal and plant life related diseases, ensuring that Singapore is free from zoonotic diseases and global threats to our food supply such as the Avian Influenza. This constitutes 0.9% of MND’s budget.

Key programmes include:

• Enhancing import control, border checks, upgrading disease surveillance and diagnostic capabilities, and maintaining emergency preparedness to deal with disease outbreaks.
• Implement a multi-layered defence strategy against Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza. This includes maintaining vigilance and preparedness against disease introduction, upgrading diagnostic capabilities for prompt disease detection, as well as establishing strategic partnership with neighbouring countries and helping them to control the disease.