The Ministry of National Development (MND) announced on Wednesday that a total of 10 additional sites will be made available for the development of temporary foreign worker dormitories.
The news follows an earlier announcement in October that dormitory development will proceed at the former Serangoon Garden Technical School site.
The 10 sites comprise 3 vacant state properties and 7 vacant state land. They will provide bed spaces for a total of about 20,000 workers.
The 3 vacant state properties include the former Queenstown Polyclinic building at 51 Margaret Drive and the former CAAS office at 1801 Upper Changi Road North. They will hold about 150 bed spaces and is expected to be operational in three to six months. Another site at the CPG Corporation Airport Development Division at 1800 Upper Changi Road North, when completed within the same time-frame, will provide 800 bed spaces for workers.
The 7 vacant state lands will be made available for tender and awarded to companies on temporary tenure for the development of temporary dormitories.
The development of temporary dormitories are part of the Government's efforts to provide proper housing for foreign workers. This will hopefully help to relieve the current overcrowding in residential premises arising from a shortage of foreign worker accommodation, which could pose public health and fire safety risks to the general public.
In the meantime, the MND will be working with the Ministry of Manpower to step up enforcement action against employers who house their foreign workers in improper premises.
