In this episode, we will address a question from YK regarding his concerns about the pandemic affecting property handovers. And will the HDA protect consumers?   

My answer is YES. It will definitely affect construction progress from several perspectives. It will affect the availability of materials, especially those that we import from China and this has been happening since last year. Next it will affect the workforce and human capital. Since no work can be executed at site, these workers will not have any wages as most of them are paid daily. Their so called boss will also not have any cash to pay them. This greatly affects sub-cons such as plumbers, tile layers, gardeners and etc. Most of them would not have the financial capability to weather this pandemic storm.   For project which still have around 2-3 years before handover , I think the developer will still have time to catch up. But for those that are about to handover this year, definitely there will be a delay. I would expect a 1 month appeal by the developer to buyers since no work can be carried out, where I think it's totally logical.   My greatest concern is the pandemic become a convenient excuse to appeal for an extension.