A RESIDENT of a five-room HDB flat pays $73.50 a month in service & conservancy charges and another $90 in parking charge.

A resident of a similar-size flat in a typical condominium pays about $200 per month. But that includes water, electricity, maintenance, mandatory lift check, cleaning service every day, clean lift, pest control, pleasant landscape, security, security cameras, covered parking lot, swimming pool, tennis court, function room, barbecue pit, recreation events, managing agent fee, some surplus for sinking fund at year-end and so on.

The HDB resident gets a parking lot and a not exactly clean environment.