The site where the Pinnacle@Duxton stands was where HDB built the first rental blocks in Tanjong Pagar in 1963.ย
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At the key handover ceremony for the Pinnacle@Duxton on 13 December 2009, Mr Lee Kuan Yew said the transformation of Singaporeโs landscape has been breath-taking.
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As Mr Lee recounted, in the 1960s, most Singaporeans lived in over-crowded shop houses or squatter huts. People were poor and life was hard. There was no running water, no modern toilets, no expectation of a better future.
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The immediate task of the Government was to tackle this housing crisis, and build homes in the shortest time possible. It would have been easier and simpler to build simple rental one and two-room flats to give people a roof over their heads, Mr Lee said.
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Mr Lee recalled that when he got HDB to launch the homeownership scheme in 1964, there were many skeptics.
“We had little reserves then. Singapore was still in Malaysia. Our future looked bleak. The post-war baby boom and the high unemployment added to our pressures. Our construction industry was low in skills and lacking in building management. Few believed a home-owning Singapore was possible,” he said.
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Home ownership is a success story shared by all Singaporeans
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From the 1980s...
Why the resale market was liberalised
“From the 1980s, we moved towards a market-based system. By liberalizing the resale market and allowing HDB prices to move in tandem with the economy, we unlocked the value of HDB flats to allow citizens to share in the fruits of the nationโs growth,” said Mr Lee.
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“Home ownership of a HDB flat is a store of value that can be monetized when needs be,” Mr Lee said. “๐๐ฎ๐ญ ๐ฐ๐ ๐ฌ๐ก๐จ๐ฎ๐ฅ๐ ๐ง๐จ๐ญ ๐ฆ๐๐ค๐ ๐ ๐ช๐ฎ๐ข๐๐ค ๐ฉ๐ซ๐จ๐๐ข๐ญ ๐๐ซ๐จ๐ฆ ๐ ๐ซ๐๐ฌ๐๐ฅ๐ ๐จ๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐ฅ๐๐ญ๐ฌ. ๐๐ก๐ ๐ซ๐ฎ๐ฅ๐๐ฌ ๐จ๐ง ๐ฆ๐ข๐ง๐ข๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐จ๐๐๐ฎ๐ฉ๐๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง ๐๐ง๐ ๐ซ๐๐ช๐ฎ๐ข๐ซ๐๐ฆ๐๐ง๐ญ ๐๐จ๐ซ ๐๐๐ฆ๐ข๐ฅ๐ฒ ๐ง๐ฎ๐๐ฅ๐๐ฎ๐ฌ ๐๐ซ๐ ๐ญ๐จ ๐๐ข๐ฌ๐๐จ๐ฎ๐ซ๐๐ ๐ ๐ฌ๐ฉ๐๐๐ฎ๐ฅ๐๐ญ๐ข๐ฏ๐ ๐ฉ๐ฎ๐ซ๐๐ก๐๐ฌ๐๐ฌ,” he added.ย
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“The Pinnacle@Duxton stands in place of the basic 10-storey rental housing blocks built in March 1963 and completed at the end of the same year. ย The first 50-storey HDB block, the tallest HDB block in our history, is a significant milestone on our way forward. ย It is the first public housing designed through an award winning international competition. ย A distinctive feature is its twelve sky bridges that link all 7 blocks forming one of the longest continuous sky gardens in the world.
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“The Pinnacle@Duxton is a strong testament to our tenacity and capabilities as a people, to get to where we are today,” Mr Lee said. It is an example that if the nation continues to do well, we can build more flats of this standard.ย
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“๐๐ ๐ก๐๐ฏ๐ ๐ฒ๐๐ญ ๐ญ๐จ ๐ซ๐๐๐๐ก ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ง๐ง๐๐๐ฅ๐ ๐จ๐ ๐๐ข๐ง๐ ๐๐ฉ๐จ๐ซ๐โ๐ฌ ๐ ๐ซ๐จ๐ฐ๐ญ๐ก. … ๐๐ก๐ ๐ ๐ซ๐จ๐ฐ๐ญ๐ก ๐ฉ๐จ๐ญ๐๐ง๐ญ๐ข๐๐ฅ ๐๐จ๐ซ ๐๐ข๐ง๐ ๐๐ฉ๐จ๐ซ๐ ๐ข๐ฌ ๐ญ๐ซ๐๐ฆ๐๐ง๐๐จ๐ฎ๐ฌ ๐ข๐ ๐ฐ๐ ๐ฌ๐ญ๐๐ฒ ๐ฎ๐ง๐ข๐ญ๐๐ ๐๐ง๐ ๐ฐ๐จ๐ซ๐ค ๐ข๐ง๐ญ๐๐ฅ๐ฅ๐ข๐ ๐๐ง๐ญ๐ฅ๐ฒ ๐๐ง๐ ๐ก๐๐ซ๐.”
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