There are no hard and fast rules that govern parking lot numbers in HDB estates, unlike private estates.
The Housing and Development Board, in response to Straits Times queries, said it would consider two factors: the type of flat and the number of flats built in the precinct.
Public housing is not covered under the Land Transport Authority's parking provision standards, which say residential units should generally have one lot each.
An estimated 80 per cent of Singapore's 4.59 million population lives in about one million HDB flats here. To date, the HDB has 1,800 carparks in its estates, with about 697,500 lots islandwide.
The car population here also grew a record 7.5 per cent in 2006 " the latest figures available " to reach more than 465,000 units.
While residents sporadically complain to the HDB of the seeming shortage of parking lots, a spokesman for the board said its surveys and feedback showed carpark lots were "sufficient" to meet residents and visitors' demand.
It could not say if HDB dwellers' parking demands today have changed, compared to, say, 10 years ago.
But it has several measures to ensure residents get lots.
For one thing, residents get priority to buy season parking tickets - the number of which sold are equal to the number of lots available.
HDB may also group nearby carparks together, so season parking ticket holders can park elsewhere if the one nearest their home is full.
Should demand continue to be high, the HDB will withdraw night parking schemes from the busy carparks, so only season parking ticket holders can park there at night.
When technically feasible, it will consider constructing additional carpark lots, by extending the surface carpark onto adjacent empty grass plots or extending carpark decks for multi-storey carparks.
This article was first published in The Straits Times on September 8, 2008.
