More pre-WWII former government quarters in Little India to be used for housing
TWO rows of colonial-era terraced houses in Little India have been set aside for residential use, as Singapore’s urban planners look to provide more varied types of housing in the heart of the city.
Located at 44 to 60 Chitty Road, and 42 to 58 Veerasamy Road, the two rows of two-storey terraced houses – each with nine units – were built in 1927 to house government employees. There are no odd-numbered units in either row.
The Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) on Oct 29 called a tender for structural investigation work to be carried out on the Chitty Road and Veerasamy Road properties to assess what sort of “protection, structural restoration and strengthening” works were needed so these conserved buildings can be used as homes.
The units, which were conserved in 1989 as part of the Little India Historic District, were rezoned for residential use in July 2024 in an amendment to the Master Plan 2019. They had been marked for commercial use previously.
A URA spokesperson told The Straits Times that the units at 42 to 58 Veerasamy Road were returned to the state in 2006, and the same happened for the units at 44 to 60 Chitty Road in 2012.
While the units are not the only former municipal quarters in Little India to be used for housing, they are the only ones zoned for residential use.
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The other such conserved state properties in the area are zoned for commercial use. These include former municipal quarters at 79 to 95, and 15 to 31 Hindoo Road, which have been awarded for co-living use by the Singapore Land Authority, as well as units in Rowell Road that have been leased to individual tenants.
Those zoned for commercial use in historic conservation districts such as Little India can be put to residential use, subject to approval by the authorities.
Asked why the units in Chitty and Veerasamy roads needed to be rezoned, URA said this was “in line with the planning strategy to inject more live-in population within the city and allow future occupants to tap its central location and proximity to amenities in the area”.
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The tender for the investigation – which is expected to take about six months – closed on Nov 12 and has not been awarded.
Information on how the state properties will be leased has not been announced, and the URA spokesperson said more details will be announced later.
Nicholas Mak, chief research officer at property search portal Mogul.sg, said that the rezoning of the Chitty Road and Veerasamy Road properties signals the Government’s intention to have more residents in Little India, apart from the shoppers and diners who form a significant proportion of those who frequent the area.
Professor Sing Tien Foo, provost’s chair professor of real estate at NUS Business School, said the co-living tenders for 79 to 95, and 15 to 31 Hindoo Road show there is a strong demand for short-term residences in the area, given its proximity to the city centre.
Co-living spaces typically provide accommodation with shared facilities such as kitchens, and some include programming that encourages residents to interact. Unless operating as a hotel or a serviced apartment, co-living spaces have a minimum stay period of at least three consecutive months.
The tender for units 79 to 95 drew 16 bids, while the other tender had six bids. Each lease lasts five years, with the option of a four-year extension.
Sing said tapping the Chitty Road and Veerasamy Road units for use as housing will require minimal adaptation and modification, compared with commercial uses.
“Using the properties as shops, especially restaurants, could cause faster rates of wear and tear on the properties and also cause traffic congestion in the area, which may not have enough parking facilities to support such uses,” he said.
Mak added that leasing out the units to a master tenant on longer leases for uses such as co-living is administratively less onerous compared with leasing each unit to individual tenants on short-term tenancies, which typically last for two years.
Sing suggested that should the units be used for co-living spaces, the operators could collaborate with the earlier projects in Hindoo Road to jointly organise events and activities to reap cost efficiencies. THE STRAITS TIMES
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