Singapore Improvement Trust

Singapore Improvement Trust
Agency overview
Formed1927
Dissolved1960
Superseding agencies
JurisdictionGovernment of Singapore

The Singapore Improvement Trust (SIT) is a former government organisation that was responsible for urban planning and urban renewal in Singapore. Formally established in 1927 under the Singapore Improvement Ordinance, it was modelled after similar organisations in India. The SIT initially carried out back lane improvement schemes and marking out unsanitary buildings for demolition, but began constructing public housing from 1935. After 1945, the SIT initially focused its efforts on the repair of its residential developments. It resumed constructing public housing in 1947 but was unable to keep up with demand. The SIT was also involved in the development of a "Master Plan", which set out Singapore's developmental direction, from 1952 to 1958. In the late 1950s, plans were set out to replace the SIT with two departments—housing and planning—culminating in two bills that were passed in 1959. With the establishment of the successor organisations by the government of Singapore, the Housing and Development Authority and the Planning Authority, in 1960, the SIT was dissolved.

The SIT consisted of a Board of Trustees, two staff, and additional workers to conduct maintenance work, along with an Estates Department, established in 1947, which handled the land and developments of the organisation. A property tax known as the Improvement Rate, rent revenue and government loans financed the SIT's projects. SIT assigned flats to applicants using a points system.


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