The Selective En bloc Redevelopment Scheme, or SERS for short, is an urban redevelopment strategy employed by the

Housing and Development Board The Housing & Development Board (HDB; often referred to as the Housing Board; ; ; ), is a Statutory boards of the Singapore Government, statutory board under the Ministry of National Development (Singapore), Ministry of National Developmen ...

in Singapore in maintaining and upgrading public housing flats in older estates in the city-state. Launched in August 1995, it involves a small selection of specific flats in older estates which undergo

demolition Demolition (also known as razing and wrecking) is the science and engineering in safely and efficiently tearing down buildings and other artificial structures. Demolition contrasts with deconstruction (building), deconstruction, which inv ...

and redevelopment to optimise land use, as opposed to

upgrading Upgrading is the process of replacing a product with a newer version of the same product. In computing and consumer electronics, an upgrade is generally a replacement of hardware, software or firmware with a newer or better version, in order to ...

of existing flats via the Main Upgrading and

Interim Upgrading Programme Interim may refer to: Temporary organizational arrangements (general concept) *Provisional government, emergency government during the creation, collapse, or crisis of a state; also called interim government *Caretaker government, temporary rule b ...

s. To date
82 SERS sites
have been announced, of which 77 were completed. The implementation of SERS also depends on the availability of replacement sites and the Government's financial resources. It will be replaced by ''Voluntary Early Redevelopment Scheme'' (VERS) in 20 years time. Only 4% of HDB flats have been identified for SERS since it was launched in 1995. All residents displaced by the redevelopment works are offered a new 99-year lease in new flats constructed nearby. These residents have the privilege to select their units prior to public release of the remaining units, are compensated financially, and are given subsidised prices for their new flats. The scheme also gives residents the opportunity to continue living near their kin and neighbours, thereby retaining kinship bonds and strengthening community ties. The Selective En bloc Redevelopment Scheme has attracted opposition and controversy. The national government has power, under the Land Acquisitions Act of 1966, to carry out the Selective En Bloc scheme. This power invokes the principle of

eminent domain Eminent domain, also known as land acquisition, compulsory purchase, resumption, resumption/compulsory acquisition, or expropriation, is the compulsory acquisition of private property for public use. It does not include the power to take and t ...

as with most urban redevelopment projects. In April 2020, to deal with the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

in foreign worker dormitories, it was announced that HDB blocks in Bukit Merah which had been purchased as part of the SERS would be used to temporarily house those foreign workers who were well and worked in critical services.

References and notes

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Selective En Bloc Redevelopment Scheme 1995 establishments in Singapore Public housing in Singapore Real estate in Singapore Singapore government policies