Higher payouts being sought over TEL land acquisition

SINGAPORE — After months of hesitation, all six owners of a nine-unit walk-up apartment along Tanjong Katong Road, which needs to make way for the upcoming Thomson-East Coast Line (TEL), collected cheques for the full compensation award yesterday.

Despite accepting the compensation, five of the owners have filed appeals for higher amounts, and these are still being processed.

If successful, they will get the difference between the compensation and the amount they appealed for separately.

In addition, during a closed-door meeting yesterday morning with officers from the Singapore Land Authority (SLA), two of the owners also appealed for an extension of the deadline to move out, but this was rejected and they have until the end of May to move out.

The owners who appealed are at odds with the SLA over the compensation package offered by the Government. The package, ranging between S$1.4 million and S$1.6 million for each unit, also included waiving housing loan restrictions and priority balloting for flats, if eligible.

However, the payout falls short of the S$2.2 million that they were asking for each unit.

The three-storey apartment, along with six other semi-detached houses at Amber Road, were first gazetted for acquisition on Aug 15, 2014, to make way for the Amber Station along the TEL.

Residents were supposed to hand over their units by Feb 29 this year, but were given a two-month extension which ended yesterday.

The TEL, a 43-km underground line, has been slated to open in phases from 2019. The first seven stations on the East Coast stretch, from Tanjong Rhu through Amber to Bayshore, are expected to be completed by 2023.

The Land Transport Authority, which had planned to begin construction of Amber Station next month, awarded two civil contracts for the construction of Amber and Bedok South stations on Thursday.

With the end of the two-month extension yesterday, the SLA now has legal possession of the land on which the apartment block stands.

“We will issue a notice under the State Lands Encroachment Act on May 3, 2016, to any occupiers who remain on the premises ... If they do not vacate by May 31, 2016, SLA will apply for a court order to take over the units,” the agency said.

Initially, only one owner, Madam Wong Sew Chan, had accepted the compensation without appeal and handed over her unit.

To date, a total of four out of the nine apartment units — which were being rented out by the owners — and all six semi-detached houses have been handed over to the SLA.

Still occupying units are a provision shop owned by 82-year-old Sim Chiang Lee, who also has three other units; and Mr Cheng Quek Hin, 69.

The walk-in apartment, completed in 1962, has been home to some of the owners for more than 50 years.

The Sin Aik provision shop on the ground floor has also served families living in the vicinity for just as long.

In February last year, the unit owners sent in an original appeal of S$3 million for each unit, but this was negotiated down to S$2.2 million.

The owners pointed out that the compensation, which roughly works out to about S$1,000 per square foot, was too little compared to the S$1,600 per square foot that other private landed and condo properties in the area were being sold for in 2014.

The SLA said the compensation award considered 2014 market value of “comparable walk-up apartments in the vicinity”.

With the owners receiving the compensation payout even as their appeals are still being processed, Mr Sim Kim Teck, 65, who runs the provision shop with his older brother, and Mr Cheng said they would be moving out by the end of next month.

Real estate lawyers told TODAY that vacating the property will not affect the owners’ appeal for higher compensation, as the appeal process and the land possession process are two separate issues.

“There is no reason for them to stay on just on the account of the appeal,” said Mr Joseph Lee, partner at Dentons Rodyk.