I REFER to the letter, 'Why sale of state land is done at market price' by Ms Kee Lay Cheng of the Housing and Development Board (ST, Dec 28).
Mr Ngiam Tong Dow has a very interesting thing to say about land pricing in Singapore in his book: A Mandarin And The Making Of Public Policy, on page 153:
'Sadly the clarity of thought shown by Dr Goh Keng Swee in pricing land has been lacking in more recent years. Relying on the concept of opportunity cost, the Chief Valuer, at the behest of either the Ministry of National Development or the Ministry of Trade and Industry (I am not sure which), has valued land across Singapore using Raffles Place land as the benchmark. The assumption is that every square metre of land in any part of Singapore has the potential to be Raffles Place.'
Would the HDB like to comment how this has affected the pricing and allocation of subsidy of new HDB flats?
Viktor Ye Kok Kheong
