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Oral Answer by Senior Minister of State for Manpower Dr Koh Poh Koon to PQ on Plans to Implement the Expansion of FEDA by the end of the year

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NOTICE PAPER NO. 1026 OF 2022 FOR A SITTING ON OR AFTER 8 MARCH 2022
QUESTION NO. 2622 FOR ORAL ANSWER

MP: Mr Louis Ng Kok Kwang

To ask the Minister for Manpower (a) whether an update can be provided on the plans to regulate all foreign worker dormitories under the Foreign Employee Dormitories Act (FEDA); and (b) whether a timeline can be provided on when the FEDA will be amended.

Answer

  1. Last year, we announced the review of the Foreign Employee Dormitories Act (FEDA) to expand its coverage to include migrant worker dormitories with fewer than 1,000 beds. This will strengthen our regulatory levers to raise and enforce new standards quickly during pandemics and introduce a consistent regulatory framework for dormitories of different sizes and types.
  2. There are currently more than 1,000 of such smaller dormitories, including factory converted dormitories (FCDs), construction temporary quarters (CTQs), temporary occupation licence quarters (TOLQs), and non-government organisation (NGO) shelters. The significant number of dormitory beds across a diverse range of housing types and the broad landscape of operators necessitate more time to engage these groups to better understand the infrastructure constraints and the impact of the licensing requirements especially on smaller dormitories.
  3. We intend to implement the expansion of FEDA by the end of the year and will share more details on the expansion in the coming months.