In his blog, National Development Minister Khaw Boon Wan explained how the Telok Kurau area had experienced “rampant development of tiny shoebox units ... resulting in disamenties such as severe traffic congestion, shortage of car parks and double parking”.
Are these problems due entirely to shoebox developments? What about the number of good and well-known eating places that have sprouted up all over the area’s narrow streets and lanes, which attract people from all over the island?
And what about the density of the population in that area? Even if you have larger units, it all depends on the number of people living in each unit — you can have six people living in a 1,000 sq ft place, while a shoebox of 500 sq ft may only have two. So these are problems of density rather than the size of abodes.
The URA should insist, rather, on an adequate number of car parks in these shoebox developments that cater not only to residents but also visitors. Such a requirement, incidentally, should automatically help reduce the number of shoebox units in order to make space for parking lots. Full story
