Metal bars fell from an HDB at block 77, Indus Road

Two metal bars, about 3 metres long, fell from an Housing & Development Board (HDB) at block 77, Indus Road on Saturday (1 April) at about 12.45 pm onto a roof of a pavilion on the ground floor while the other one fell onto the pavement.
According to Lianhe Wanbao report, the bars were decorative structures from the top of the blocks.
The blocks were built around forty years ago. However, they have gone through the upgrading process.
Lianhe Wanbao said that Miss Lim, one of the residents, told the media that she was visiting her father at the blocks near Delta Road when the incident happened.
She said that she heard a loud sound of a heavy object falling.
Block 77, 78, and 79 were also cordoned off due to the incident. Lianhe Wanbao also stated that one of the bars on Block 79 was also missing.
According to the media, the Jalan Besar Town Council said that its staff had gone to the site to check.
In a statement, the Town Council said, “It was found that two decorative aluminum panels on the facade of the block had fallen off. We had cordoned off the other blocks with similar decorative panels as a precautionary safety measure.”
It then added that it is currently working with the authorities to conduct a thorough investigation into the matter.
Lily Neo, MP for Jalan Besar GRC, stated that HDB had already sent engineers to investigate. that they will also “remove all other metal bars if necessary” to prevent the same incident from happening again, and to ensure that the residents’ safety remains their priority.
“We shall do our utmost to protect their interests,” Dr Neo said.

Recently, there has also been other reports of slabs falling off HDBs:
On 25 September, a concrete facade at a four-storey HDB block along Tampines Street 23 was unseated.
On 19 October, a slab of the roof-wall in a housing block in MacPherson fell 11 storeys.
On 27 November, a slab of plaster fell 12 storeys from the top of Block 449 Hougang Avenue 10 and hit a lorry which was parked nearby and dented its roof.