TEN years after they were first earmarked for redevelopment, four blocks of flats in the mature Ang Mo Kio estate are finally facing the wrecking ball.

Come February next year, blocks 246 to 249 along Ang Mo Kio avenues 2 and 3 will be torn down to make way for new homes.

The open-air carpark between these yellow and white 12-storey blocks, which are 39 years old to 40 years old, will also be demo-lished.

Most of the soon-to-be vacated site, across the road from Bishan-Ang Mo Kio Park, is zoned for residential use under the Urban Redevelopment Authority’s latest Master Plan.

The 42,584 sq m demolition site, about the size of six football fields, will be hoarded up for safety, a Housing Board spokesman said.

According to tender documents, the demolition project is estimated to cost $800,000 and is expected to be completed by September 2018.

The four blocks, along with adjacent blocks 250 to 252, were announced for the HDB’s Selective En bloc Redevelopment Scheme (Sers) in June 2006. Under this scheme, old blocks are torn down and residents are offered new replacement flats with a fresh 99-year lease at subsidised prices.

All the residents had moved out by the end of 2012 and many relocated to newly built blocks nearby, along Ang Mo Kio Avenue 1.

Blocks 250 and 252 were demolished in 2013 and new flats are currently being built there.

Blocks 246 to 249, however, were given a new lease of life as rental homes in 2013.

Blocks 246 and 247 are on the HDB’s Interim Rental Housing Scheme, which provides needy families with temporary housing at subsidised rates.

Meanwhile, blocks 248 and 249 are being used for the Parenthood Provisional Housing Scheme (PPHS), which provides temporary homes to families waiting for their new flats to be completed.

These tenants will be provided with alternative homes if they still need temporary housing as the demolition approaches, HDB said.

Some 72 Sers projects have been completed since the scheme’s inception in 1995.

Chef Melvin Tan, who is renting a three-room flat at Block 248 while waiting for his Toa Payoh flat to be built, said HDB had informed him about the demolition.

The 43-year-old, who lives with his wife and two children, added that he will miss his current neighbourhood.

Other former residents were less nostalgic. Said Ng Choon Kiang, 55, who is unemployed: “The flats there are very old and most of the shops in the area have moved out. It’s time to tear them down.”

yeosamjo@sph.com.sg

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TWO elderly people have been cheated of nearly $26,000 in what is known as an “apple scam”. The victims are told to put all their valuables in a plastic bag for a ritual, only to find out later that the items have been replaced with apples.

Scammers employing this tactic made a resurgence last month, with the police investigating two cases and reminding residents to be on their guard, Chinese daily Lianhe Wanbao reported yesterday.

Wanbao understands that the two victims are elderly folk. The scammers used their usual ploy, telling the elderly that their relatives and friends were in danger of misfortune but a simple ritual would keep them safe.

The victims were coaxed into placing cash and jewellery into a plastic bag, which the scammers prayed over.

They would then leave with a word of caution to the victims not to open the bag until several days later, but the victims would do so only to find that the bag contained apples, water bottles or other cheap items.

The police confirmed the reports and said investigations are under way.

The scammers usually travel in groups and are highly practised, Wanbao reported.

They take different roles, including one as the “salesperson” to introduce the scheme, another as someone who has benefited from the ritual and a third to carry it out.

Neighbourhood police centres have sent out reminders to residents to beware of these scammers, who largely target the elderly.

Residents in Marine Parade have received flyers warning against falling for the apple scam.

Yishun North Neighbourhood Police Centre posted a similar advisory on its Facebook page earlier this month.

It advised the public to “be wary when approached by strangers who offer to help you perform rituals to prevent misfortune” and to refrain from handing over cash or valuables to anyone.

In late 2013, a group of five apple scammers from China made off with $430,000 worth of cash and jewellery.

Two members of the gang were arrested at the airport and given respective jail sentences of four years and 10 months and three years and five months.

More details of this scam and others are provided on www.scamalert.sg, a site operated by the National Crime Prevention Council.

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