by: Ravi Philemon/
The Ministry of National Development on Friday released the third Town Council Management Report (TCMR). The TCMR framework was introduced in 2009 to provide residents with objective information on the key areas of estate management and to facilitate informed discussion between town councils and their residents on how they can jointly improve the upkeep of their estates over time.
The third half-yearly TCMR is based on the pre-General Election constituency boundaries, which covered the period from October 2010 to March 2011 for all 16 towns. The results covered four key areas of cleanliness, maintenance, lift performance and management of Service & Conservancy Charges (S&CC) arrears.
According to the third TCMR, town councils held by the opposition made significant improvements. Potong Pasir which was then helmed by Mr Chiam See Tong, saw the biggest gains, with higher scores recorded for three out of six indicators, including cleanliness, maintenance of facilities and proportion of households with arrears to S&CC.
Mr Chiam See Tong responding to the Report in an email says that he does not believe the Report. He says that he has been maintaining the estate of Potong Pasir well at all material times and that the Report itself is ‘politically motivated’.
Mr Chiam adds, “the HDB has now decided to award Potong Pasir Constituency with a consolation prize after the GE by reporting that PPTC has made the biggest gains with higher scores recorded for three out out of six indicators ,incuding cleanliness,maintenance of facilitiesand proportion of households with arrears to service and conservancy charges(S&CC)amongst the town councils.”
Even though the Report gave the opposition held town councils higher scores this time round, it still ranked the 2 opposition town councils below all other PAP ones.
Ministry of National Development is now reviewing the TCMR framework to better reflect residents’ experience and cover other areas of estate management. MND will be consulting residents, town councils and industry professionals in their review of this framework.
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Read the 3rd TCMR and review of the framework HERE.
