Pandan Valley for many of us has been home for 20 years and more.
The memories we share cannot be explained and need not be justified to people who have only moved in recently. Those who seek great fortune by making their quick buck through a collective sale would dismiss these legitimate feelings as silly nostalgia...but consider the following, are these silly nostalgia too?:
- Pandan Valley is one of the largest condominium complexes in Singapore.
- It is unique in its greenery and preservation of the natural environment - carefully planned architecture ensured that the natural valleys were not destroyed and that the apartments and facilities were created within and around them. In a concrete jungle - it is truly our very own patch of green.
- Apartment sizes are unusually large when compared to many of the new developments. Most new flats are cramped with little living space. As the oldest conominium in Singapore, Pandan Valley had no space constraints - we thus live in large, airy and well-lit units, with attached balconies and/or small gardens.
- We are in a safe middle-class neighbourhood that is not congested with high-rise developments. We have easy access to almost everything important: good schools, NUS, polytechnics, ITE, One North, healthcare institutions (hospitals, polyclinics, dental clinics), markets (Farrer, Ghim Moh, Holland Village, Clementi, Bukit Timah), supermarkets, as well as high-end and low-end eating places. Taxis and buses easily available along the main road, a short bus ride takes you to the Clementi MRT, Dover MRT is walking distance. Orchard Road is only 10 minutes away by car. To say we are well-located would be an understatement.
- Any 'profit' made through collective sale could never guarantee us a similarly large or well-located apartment. This is simply fact. Property prices in this holland-ulu pandan area have risen considerably since most of us moved in here. At the same time, average apartment sizes have shrunk. For more money we will thus only get considerably less.
- Laurels Supermarket and Kodak Film Shop have been amongst us for as long as most of us can remember. These small family-owned enterprises depend on PV for their entire livelihood. As they have watched us grow and change, so have we watched them. They are part of the PV family and will be equally affected by a collective sale.
