Tuas View Dormitory only 50 per cent occupied
Eleven months since its opening, Tuas View Dormitory continues to face a tough challenge of increasing its occupancy.
The first purpose-built foreign worker dormitory in Singapore has 16,800 beds across 20 blocks – but is only 50 percent occupied.
TS Group, the company managing the dormitory, said the “lukewarm response” is due to the downtrend in the economy, especially in the marine industry. Oil prices have been decreasing, and stood at a 5-month low on 13 July .
In the past few months, some employers from this industry have even checked out their employees to save cost.
According to general manager Charanjeet Singh, the rent at the dormitory can also be considered as "expensive" to some companies. Currently, recycling centre NatSteel is one of the major companies paying for their workers to live in Tuas View.
With that said, the management says they have been getting new tenants, and are expecting more in the future.
Living in the dormitory costs $300 a month for a bed in a standard room and up to $350 a month for a bed in a premium room. Each room has 12 beds and lockers, two ceiling fans and two standing fans. Premium rooms have linoleum-covered floors and a refrigerator. Some companies have opted for air-conditioning in their workers’ rooms -- these cost more.
Located at Tuas South Avenue 1, Tuas View Dormitory is the first of 20 purpose-built dormitories that will be built under a government initiative. The dormitory opened in August, just months before the Foreign Dormitories Act, which legislates the licensing of larger foreign worker dormitories, was passed in November 2014.
The act requires all dorms with capacities of 1,000 and above to be licensed, with various regulations in the areas of security, public health and social and recreational activities before they can operate.
Workers don’t just get beds to sleep on. There are also minimarts, a cinema, a food court, a beer garden, gymnasiums, outdoor courts and fitness corners, a shopping arcade and a recreational room where the workers can play carrom and pool.
There are also centralised cooking areas, canteens and laundry areas where their clothes will be washed, dried and delivered to their rooms while they are away at work.
Despite the economic challenges preventing companies from housing workers at Tuas View, TS Group’s Director of Operations, R. Subra, 67, hopes companies will still consider such purpose-built dormitories as a “moral obligation” to provide proper living conditions to their workers.
Subra, who has 20 years of experience in the dormitory industry, said there are still foreign workers living in crammed shop houses in Singapore. The living conditions in such shop houses have not changed, he added.
At Tuas View Dormitory, the workers are well taken care of, with tough security measures and rules and regulations in place to prevent trespass and maintain order within the premises.
Workers need to go through fingerprint-secured turnstiles to access the living quarters; there are 430 surveillance cameras set up throughout the facility and the management works closely with the police to ensure the workers are on their best behavior.
“If they violate, we award them demerit points. If they breach the 100-point mark, there will be no excuse; they have to leave this place. The company will have to send them back (to their country of origin),” said Subra.
Liquor consumption rules apply to those living in the dormitory as well. Consumption of alcohol in public areas isn’t allowed from 10:30pm to 7am.
Subra said there has been positive response to purpose-built dormitories in Southeast Asia, with companies like Petronas looking into such facilities for its workers.
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For foreign workers, dorm life better than Singapore heartlands
