To:
Housing and Development Board (HDB)
HDB's Lift Upgrading Project Contractor

Lift Upgrading Project (LUP) - New Lift Landings

1.   In 2007, HDB commenced the Lift Upgrading Project in my estate to allow new lifts to reach all floors, thereby improving accessibility for the elderly and the handicapped. This is commendable upgrading project and I am firmly in support of it. The lifts have also turned out very well, designed to be on par with the lifts in newer HDB estates such as Punggol and Sengkang.

2.   However, at the tail end of this project, one detail appears to have been neglected by your planning committee.This missing detail is apparent in the photograph attached:


3.   As you may have noticed in this photograph of drying cement in front of the new lift, there is a rectangular outline of tiles in front of the lift doors. These tiles are of a pleasant grey hue. However, the neglect on your part has resulted in a surfeit of tiles ordered. While I could attribute this to a possible mix-up by your tile supplier, it seems to have been deliberate as the inside of the rectangle has been filled with cement and smoothened to become level with the tiles.

4.   This patch of cement then begs the question of why a rectangle of tiles was created instead of allowing the entire lift landing to be covered in cement. Aesthetically, both options are eyesores. However, one eyesore appears to cost less than the other - I am assuming the price of sand needed for cement to be filled in the area taken up by one tile has not shot so high as to surpass the cost of one tile.

5.   From today on, whenever I step out of my house, I will always ponder the reason why the tiles are there in the first place, and why the central portion is not covered by tiles. Thank you for the mystery that will plague my mind every morning.

Yours sincerely,
A resident

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Next post:
Possible reasons why cement covers the inside of the tile rectangle