The flats at the Punggol Point Cove pre-purchase HDB project were previously delayed by six to nine months due to the coronary disease outbreak.

MediaCorp's English-language news network TODAY reported that the HDB announced the day before yesterday (19) that it had terminated the contract of the main contractor for Phase 2 of the project. The authority will appoint a new contractor to take over the project, and as a result, the completion date of the 991 flats in the five HDB blocks will be delayed by about three more months.

Affected are HDB blocks 442A, 442B, 443B, 445A and 445B, which are now expected to be completed between the fourth quarter of next year and the first quarter of the following year, the authority said.

HDB said it had taken a number of measures to help the original contractor to catch up, but it was unable to meet the target and had to terminate the contract. A new contractor is expected to take over the project next month.

Affected buyers have been notified.