Folks moving into their Build to Order (BTO) flats would probably expect everything to be in good order. However, that wasn’t the case for a resident in one such estate in Punggol East.
Instead of a spanking clean neighbourhood, he found himself living in less-than-ideal conditions, with overflowing rubbish emitting unpleasant stenches throughout his block.
The basement carpark would also apparently flood after periods of heavy rain.
Although the resident and several others have raised the issue to the Pasir Ris-Punggol Town Council, they claimed that they’ve yet to see any improvements.
The Town Council has since clarified that they have addressed the pertinent issues. Efforts are also ongoing to implement interim measures in certain situations.
In an email to MS News, the resident shared that he stays at Waterway Sunrise 1 estate, a BTO project completed in 2021. He claimed to have been a resident there for about a year, since the release of keys in Dec 2021.
Unfortunately, since then, several problems have surfaced and allegedly persisted. They include:
The resident claimed that the green rubbish bins on every floor aren’t cleared regularly despite being full. They thus emit a foul smell throughout the block, on top of being unsightly.
As of 26 Jan or Day 5 of Chinese New Year (CNY), the bins allegedly remained full, as no one came to clear them throughout CNY.
Responding to queries from MS News, the resident lamented that the problems affect not just his block, but the whole estate.
“Monthly Conservancy charges have been paid to the Town Council since December 2021, yet there has been no quality cleaning in the new BTO project.”
While he acknowledged the cleaners’ attempt to rectify the problem, he claimed that they have been for nought.
“We saw cleaners using a blower in the enclosed carpark to blow the rubbish, resulting in all the dust flying in the air. Cars and motorcycles ended up covered in dust and some neighbours’ eczema even flared up.”
Several residents have apparently sent feedback through the OneService App, while others raised the matter to their MPs, to no avail.
At his wits’ end, the resident turned to MS News to help bring their predicament to light.
In response to MS News’ queries, Pasir Ris – Punggol Town Council explained that they had placed green bins on every level as there was “chokage” at the Centralised Refuse Chute (CRC) of Block 656B Punggol East.
The “chokage” was due to “renovation debris and large packaging waste” jamming the refuse compactor, and hence, choking up the chute.
The Town Council had to seal the CRC hoppers temporarily while their team manually cleared the choke.
As of 28 Jan, the choke was completely cleared and the CRCs could function normally again. The Town Council has also removed the green bins.
As for the carpark, the Town Council identified the possible cause of the flooding as “recent torrential rain combined with some minor defects”.
Like the CRCs, they stated that the carpark is still under its Defects Liability Period (DLP). Therefore, the main contractor will be resolving these issues, including improving the speed of drain-off.
For the time being, conservancy workers will manually aid with the drain-off after heavy downpours.
While they attempt to rectify the issues, the Town Council apologises for the trouble and appeals for residents’ cooperation.
We regret the inconvenience to our residents during this transition period, and we would like to seek our residents’ cooperation and understanding to help in disposing their household refuse correctly. For free bulky refuse removal, our residents can contact us at 6590 9500 for appointments.
The Town Council told MS News that they intend to continue monitoring the situation, and mitigate future occurrences through education and enforcement measures.
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All images courtesy of an MS News reader.
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