People's Park Complex residents plagued by lift breakdowns, sometimes waiting up to an hour for one

Selina Xu
The Straits Times
Apr 11, 2017

When Mr Haryudi Darsono gets home to the People's Park Complex from school every day, all he wants is to fall into bed for a nap.

The last thing he needs - and what he often, frustratingly, gets - is a long wait for the lift to take him up to his apartment.

The 20-year-old private school student said: "I come home during peak hours, so I am queuing for the MRT. It becomes tedious when I have to queue for the lift as well.

"You expect no barrier to be between you and your bed, but on some days, there is only one lift working."

Like him, frustrated residents of the 31-storey strata-titled complex sometimes wait up to an hour for the lift with snaking queues forming on some evenings.

The cause? Frequent lift breakdowns.

Of the three residential lifts, one has been suspended by the Building and Construction Authority (BCA) for repair since Dec 19 last year.

The remaining two lifts, serving 25 floors, malfunction three to five times a month, according to residents.

OUT OF OPERATION

Mr Ong Hock Leng, 62, said: "The lifts have been breaking down for years, but the situation has really been aggravated in the past few months since one lift went out of operation."

The technical executive had written to The Straits Times Forum on March 28 about the lift breakdowns and other issues.

Mrs Wendy Lan, 53, who has lived at the People's Park Complex since it opened in 1973, is used to the breakdowns and has not considered moving elsewhere.

"I am not sure what I will do if this problem persists when I am older. I have neighbours who are over 70 years old and wheelchair-bound. They are utterly helpless since they cannot climb the stairs," the housewife said in Mandarin.

Complex manager Wilson Goh said steps have been taken to minimise the downtime during lift breakdowns, with stand-by technicians in the building during peak hours since March.

Concurrently, maintenance works have doubled from monthly to fortnightly.

In a reply to queries from ST, lift contractor Schindler said the suspended lift will be back in operation by the end of this month and the company will subsequently fix the other two lifts in succession.

The BCA has also instructed the building owner to ensure maintenance-related issues are rectified by its lift contractor.