SINGAPORE - Forty-four residential projects, or 12 per cent of projects with a sale deadline within 2021 to 2023, were granted more time to clear all unsold units, on top of the extensions provided under Covid-19 temporary relief measures, Deputy Prime Minister Lawrence Wong said on April 2.

In his written parliamentary response, DPM Wong disclosed that “excluding generally available extensions provided under the Covid-19 temporary relief measures,” a small group of developers had applied for and received an extension to their specified sale timeline.

He was responding on April 2 to questions from People’s Action Party MP Sitoh Yi Pin (Potong Pasir) and Workers’ Party MP Louis Chua (Sengkang GRC), who asked about the reasons for granting a deadline extension to the developers of District 10 luxury leasehold condo Cuscaden Reserve, and whether other projects were granted similar extensions.

The Straits Times was first to report on March 8 that the 192-unit Cuscaden Reserve’s initial sales deadline to clear its remaining 180 unsold units in 2023 has been extended to 2024. But ST’s queries to the authorities on the number of residential projects that had secured similar extensions, and the amount of ABSD penalties assessed and deferred, were not answered.

On April 2, DPM Wong said the appeals by developers of the 44 projects were approved “as they involved...