Some 60,000 short-term bed spaces will be created to house foreign workers here by the end of this year in the first step towards a major overhaul of dormitories announced yesterday.
With workers staying in these cramped quarters accounting for more than 90 per cent of the Covid-19 cases in Singapore, the dorms of the future will be designed not only to reduce the risk of similar outbreaks, but also to respond quickly to them.
Each worker will have more space to himself, greater hygiene discipline will be instilled among the workers, and better segregation practices will be put in place.
Short-term beds will be a step in that direction. They will reduce the density of foreign workers staying in existing dormitories while helping to cut the risk of Covid-19 transmission among foreign workers when they leave interim facilities like army camps, said Mr Lawrence Wong, co-chair of the multi-ministry task force tackling Covid-19.
About 25,000 of these beds will be what the authorities term Quick Build Dormitories, which can be assembled within a few months and last for two to three years.
Another 25,000 will be fitted in currently unused state properties, such as former schools and vacant factories, while the remainder will take the form of temporary quarters at construction sites.
The plan is for 11 of these new purpose-built dorms to be built in the next two years, providing more permanent lodging for these 60,000 workers, said Mr Wong, who is also National Development Minister.
More such dorms will be built in the medium term to house an additional 40,000 workers. This additional capacity will be used to house workers staying in existing dorms so that such dorms can then be upgraded to meet the higher standards, he added.
“The dormitories will also have to be managed differently, with operators helping to instil a higher degree of discipline, for example, on inter-mixing, and ensuring tight isolation of infected workers,” she said.
The Government will work with dorm operators and employers to reinforce these norms.