Oral Reply to Parliamentary Question on Home Fires Alarm Device by Mrs Josephine Teo, Minister, Prime Minister’s Office and Second Minister for Manpower and Second Minister for Home Affairs

Question: To ask the Minister for Home Affairs (a) when will work begin on the installation of smoke and fire alarms for HDB rental flats; (b) which housing estates will be covered in the initial stage; and (c) how long will this exercise take to complete the installation for all rental flats.

Answer:

1. Mr Speaker, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) announced in November last year that SCDF, HDB and PA were working together to provide free installation of home fire alarm devices, or HFADs, for all 60,000 public rental flats.

2. The installation will commence in June 2018 and will be carried out in phases, starting with housing estates with a higher number of rental households with elderly residents.

3. We expect to complete the installation for all HDB public rental flats by 2021.