New expressway to affect several properties

The government will acquire several properties along Admiralty Road West and Toa Payoh Rise to make way for the construction of the 15.9 km North-South Expressway (NSE).

Some of the affected properties are industrial estates owned by the Housing Development Board (HDB) and Jurong Town Corporation (JTC) in places like Woodlands and Sin Ming, Marymount Terrace and the living quarters of the Good Shepherd nuns and a nursing home at Marymount Convent. The government will also acquire part of the fences, boundary walls and grass verges at the Seletaris in Sembawang, Nuovo, Bullion Park and Castle Green in Yio Chu Kang.

Yesterday, government officials visited around 25 terrace houses in  Marymount Terrace to serve land acquisition notices. Affected homeowners will have until January 2013 to leave their homes.

Values of properties northward from Toa Payoh will see a two to three percent increase, due to the improved accessibility to the city that the expressway will afford, said Mr. Nicholas Mak, Head of Research at SLP International, who spoke to The Straits Times. However, the values of properties up to 20 metres and until the 11th level from the viaduct could drop by five percent due to dust, noise and passing cars.

The government will acquire 38 full plots and 33 partial lots, amounting to a total land area of approximately 5.6 hectares, larger than the 4.8 hectares of land acquired for the Kallang-Paya Lebar Expressway (KPE).