They are more interested and busy in putting our money into investments than to consider your mother's physical needs. Now your letter appears in the Forum Pg, maybe they might start doing something otherwise more fingers will be pointing at them regarding our funds.
We have recently moved to AMK Ave 5 and also check on the lift upgrading schedule and got the same standard response too . My mum has very weak legs and need to be on wheelchair when we take her out for her medical appt. We hope Minister Mah will speed up the upgrading process to help spur the economy and the elderly folks who are not mobile living in HDB flat.
HDB and the government should take accountablity because these HDB flats were built orginally without lifts stopping at every floor. They should have the foresight that Singapore population is aging and such issues are sure to happen in the future. This is 101 in planning.
It could be possible (not sure) that HDB did have the foresight and a conscious decision was made (due to cost consideration) not to build lifts at every floors. Nevertheless, we need to move on.
I think HDB should estimate or forecast how much will it cost to rectify the issue and work out a schedule to build lifts at every floors, PAP or non-PAR wards. This is a simple national issue and should be handled face-on and not be politicized as a "caroot" during election.
I sincerely hope the PAP lead government will give some priority to this item. The cost to rectify maybe significantly less than than of our famous investments into the global financial institutions.
pohleeheng: Easy to say with hindsight that they should have built lifts stop at every floor.Those flats were built decades ago, at a time when Singapore is not as rich as it is now, and elderly people (surprise, surprise) can actually do physical activities, like climb stairs while carry a 5kg pack of rice. And at the time, Singapore was one of the pioneers of housing large populations in high rise buildings.
puilien: So knowing your mum's condition, did it not occur to you to look for a unit that already had a lift stopping on its floor?
[ It is sad when the authorities give the standard response that they will let you know. It is sadder that no one will take responsibility for not installing lifts on every level.]
As much as I emphathisze with Ms Rajam's plight, she needs to understand nobody is responsible for not installing lifts on every level. She cannot expect people to account for something just because she wants it done. Similarly, one cannot be responsible for a railing to be installed just because it would be easier for me to walk up and down the stairs. I'm sure Ms Rajam knows that gahmen is aware of Singapore's greying population and is in the process of providing lifts on every floor on the basis that the design of flats allows it and based on majority votes. So she should be patient, and instead of spending looking for someone to be responsibile, she should find alternatives to solve her own personal problems. Even if there are plans to install lifts in her block, she might not get her wish since it still cost money and her neighbours may not want to fork out a sum during hard times.
A friend of mine moved from a walkup apt to a HDB flat with lift landing some time back. Her reason being she does not want to wait till she's old to move out of the walkup apt. As much as we laughed at her cos she's not even middleaged, but hey, she's planning ahead. We need to help ourselves first.
it must be a pretty old apartment not to have elevators stopping at every floor - i recall this started at least some 10-15 years back? - so any chance of moving to one that has, since there must be quite a bit of choice with the scheme having been in place for so many years.
JoJo2008 is an idiot. Let's hope you don't grow old and helpless. Governments are in power to do things to look after their citizens. What this lady is asking for is not unreasonable. If we can donate billions of dollars to Morgan Stanley and Merill Lynch, we use of that money for our own people.
Many older flats in AMK are still 'lift-less', though many are already in the process of upgrading with new lifts. For those which are already upgraded, usually the asking price would be sky high.
Another reason for staying put in an old flat could be due to sentimental value lah. Older folks often refuse to move house bcos of such reason. I've the same problem with my own aged parents once before.
January 01, 2009 Thursday, 12:23 AM
