More Sites for Foreign-worker Housing
- The Straits Times, 23 January 2007
Home for them is...
- The Straits Times, 15 January 2007
A run-down factory with many problems
In a secluded corner of Kim Chuan Drive stands a run-down workers' quarters.
At SGF Dormitory, blue canvas sheets pass for window curtains. Shower stalls are covered with green slime.
Mosquitoes have been found breeding there thrice between 2005 and last year.
That last transgression brought the dormitory operator composition fines of between $200 and $2,000.
The National Environment Agency checked the three- year-old place again last November and declared it to be in 'satisfactory condition'.
But a month later, SGF was in trouble again, this time with the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF), which had been tipped off by The Straits Times: The dorm did not have a Fire Safety Certification; it had illegally converted the first-storey kitchen- cum-dining area into sleeping quarters; it was storing LPG gas without a licence.
For the three offences, they were issued with three notices of Fire Safety Offence, amounting to $1,500.
Last November, The Straits Times saw workers hosing themselves down in the open in a dimly-lit backyard because no bathroom had been provided for them on the first floor.
And with only four hoses available there, some workers were waking up at 4am to shower - or going without it.
In the sleeping quarters, double-decker beds were placed so close that only a narrow space was left between bunks.
Beds were found in the first-floor units, which were supposed to be cooking areas.
When The Straits Times revisited the dorm last week, few improvements were seen.
Dorm director Seah Kim Tek, 58, insisted he has addressed some of the authorities' concerns.
He claimed that: he had written to the Urban Redevelopment Authority for approval to convert the first floor's kitchen-cum-dining area into sleeping quarters; he had told the fuel supplier to get a licence for storing LPG tanks; he had also told the dorms' tenants to have no more than 60 workers in each of the 10 three-storey units.
But The Straits Times counted 100 beds in one unit. Mr Seah said: 'I only rent them the space. The tenants bought and arranged the beds themselves. They are stubborn and problematic. I am going to tell them to get out by the Chinese New Year.'
When asked if he was going to provide shower stalls and toilets for workers on the first floor, now that it was going to become sleeping quarters, he said: 'They shower at their construction site and then come here. Or they can go upstairs and shower.'
He was referring to the four shower stalls and six toilets on the upper floors.
Asked why workers were cooking in their sleeping quarters, he said, exasperated: 'I told them not to, but they still do it. What do you expect me to do? They refuse to cooperate!'
When asked why the toilet walls are green with slime although he had four cleaners and why canvas sheets were being used to keep out the rain, he replied: 'I can put air-con, provide fans, put up windows, but why do up the place so nicely? The tenants are not going to pay so much, and the workers are going to spoil the things.'
He reckons he has paid about $4,000 in fines since the dorm opened. Meanwhile, he is getting another more fire-safe design plan drawn up for submission to the SCDF.
He blamed his cleaning contractor for not fumigating the place regularly, government officials for 'digging out a mosquito larva hiding behind the brick', and his cooking-gas supplier for putting LPG tanks on the premises.
The workers were not spared in his blame game. He said they had filthy habits and were always squeezing in more people than allowed.
He said: 'These tenants beg you and dump all their sick and accident cases here. Then 'temporary' cases become permanent. I tell them: 'Only 40 to 50 workers a unit, no more, tolong!' '
He was forthcoming about another 'sin' - that, until late last year, the dorm had no water supply for fighting fires.
He said: 'I plan to curi (steal) water from the PUB pipe because PUB didn't want to supply. But there's no fire so, no need to steal. I am an honest man, I won't hide anything from you.'
A spartan shack with no beds initially
For two months, four men slept on thin mattresses laid on the cardboard-lined floor, in a Pulau Ubin kampung house the size of two Housing Board bedrooms.
Centipedes crawled in twice.
When the Malaysians asked their employer, Ban Chuan Trading and Engineering, for beds, they were told there was no money for that.
One worker was aghast. He said in Malay: 'I have worked in so many places in Malaysia, and there have always been proper beds and taps. This place is the worst.'
He and his three roommates are cleaners at the Outward Bound School.
Since they started work there, three of them have had falls or injuries requiring medical attention.
One of them said: 'Our boss told us that he would pay for only the first medical treatment. If we meet with more accidents, we will have to foot the bill.'
The men's lodgings are free, but they have to take a 30-minute bicycle ride to work. The bicycles were given to them.
The men were told that their food would be paid for, but have so far been paying for their own meals.
Their biggest grouse: that their employer was holding on to their passports.
When The Straits Times contacted Ban Chuan, its project manager, Mr Anand Sanmugam, said he did not know the men did not have beds. But by Dec 16, after The Straits Times' check, beds had been sent over.
As for the promise of free food, Mr Sanmugam said it was not in Ban Chuan's employment contract.
He also said the company was holding the men's passports for 'safety', but that he would return their passports on Dec 22. As of last Thursday, this had not happened.
Mr Sanmugam also denied that the company had refused to pay for the men's subsequent medical bills
A secure, well-equipped dorm with cable TV
Foreign workers staying at a Jurong dormitory must tap their access pass or have the veins in their hands scanned by electronic sensor gates before they are allowed into their dormitory.
A security guard stands at the gates of 58, Penjuru Place to keep strangers out. A full-time management officer looks after daily operations.
The 6,000-or-so marine and manufacturing workers who live at the Penjuru Dormitory 1 are lucky compared to their peers living in sub-standard lodgings elsewhere.
There is a well-stocked minimart, a canteen selling Indian and Bangladeshi food, a multi-purpose hall and meeting rooms for employers and their workers. There is also a fitness park.
Each of the 384 units is equipped with its own kitchen, two toilets and a laundry area. Cable television is also available.
Up to 18 men can live in each unit. Each has a locker for his belongings.
Located near shipyards, petrochemical industries and factories, the dorm is the latest of four dorms run by Mini Environment Service. Penjuru Dormitory 2, coming up next door, will house another 6,000 workers by the middle of this year.
Employers pay $110 a month for each worker they place there. Workers, however, pay for their own food and utilities.
Mr Haja Najbudhin, 27, from India, for example, spends $300 of his $800 monthly pay on utilities and food.
MES executive director Lakshmanan S. said the workers have to abide by house rules, which means no gambling and drinking, among other things.
What workers' dormitories should have
Guidelines for standalone dormitories, according to the Code of Practice on Environmental Health:
• If the dormitory does not provide a separate space for cupboards or lockers, the minimum room space should be 4 sq m per person. Otherwise, it is 3 sq m per person.
• The room must be adequately ventilated and lit.
• Adequate number of toilets and sanitary fittings shall be provided. For construction sites with living quarters, a water closet, wash basin, urinal, bench and hanger must be provided for every 15 men or fewer.
Guidelines for workers' dormitories within industrial buildings and warehouses, according to the Urban Redevelopment Authority:
• The workers' quarters shall not exceed 40 per cent of the gross floor area of the building.
• The number of workers must comply with technical requirements of other agencies, including the National Environment Agency and Fire Safety & Shelter Department. The total number of workers shall not exceed 500.
• Dormitories should be located away from residential estates.
Space crunch
- The Straits Times, 15 January 2007