By Fiona Chan

RESIDENTS in Yishun have given the thumbs-up to the Housing Board's new Home Improvement Programme (HIP), which aims to spruce up the town's existing facilities and add new ones.

Almost 95 per cent of them voted in favour of the upgrading plans in the first polling exercise under this scheme, said Senior Minister of State National Development Grace Fu on Wednesday night.

She revealed this at the HDB's annual awards presentation night to honour firms that have provided quality construction and design.

The upgrading will cover Blocks 227 to 235 in Yishun Street 21.

Announced by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong at the National Day Rally last year, the HIP is a new upgrading programme for ageing flats. It comprises two components - essential Improvements and optional Improvements.

The first involves works that have to be carried out for public health, safety or technical reasons, such as repair of spalling concrete and replacement of waste pipes, while the second are for improvements that residents want, such as toilet upgrading and replacement of entrance door and refuse hopper.

The upgrading works are expected to start in the fourth quarter and end by early 2010.

Commenting on the overwhelming support from the Yishun residents, Senior Minister of State for Law and Home Affairs Ho Peng Kee, who is adviser to Nee Soon East grassroots organisations, said: 'They appreciate the positive effect of these improvements on their home living conditions and value of their flats.'

'Indeed, the programme's flexibility allows those residents who opted out of all the optional improvements to enjoy the essential improvements without paying anything!'

At the awards presentation, Township planner Surbana International Consultants swept the design awards for the second year in a row, winning for all three categories: new housing, upgrading and parks.

Quality awards for building were also given to Poh Lian Construction and Straits Construction, while three other contractors - Kienta Engineering Construction, Chiu Teng Construction and Teambuild Construction - won for quality in upgrading projects.

Six more firms were recognised for being good service providers, including Sun Microsystems, which maintains the backup and recovery of HDB's business data, and V-Workz International, which manages the e-brochure and virtual showflat systems.

For construction safety, Straits Construction, Sim Lian Construction and Teambuild Construction took top honours.