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SINGAPORE - About 20 purpose-built dormitories for foreign workers breach dormitory licence conditions each year, said Manpower Minister Josephine Teo.
This amounts to nearly half of the 43 such dormitories regulated under the Foreign Employee Dormitories Act (Feda), which together house some 200,000 workers.
An average of 1,200 employers a year have also been punished for providing unacceptable accommodation for their workers, said Mrs Teo, responding to questions from MPs, including Workers' Party MP Png Eng Huat (Hougang), who asked about the virus outbreak among foreign workers.
She told the House on Monday (May 4) that accommodation standards for migrant workers have become better over the years, but acknowledged that further improvements could be made.
The living conditions in these large dormitories have been under scrutiny in recent weeks as the number of workers infected with Covid-19 rises.
"We will see how standards can be raised, but keep in mind there are also older dorms which perhaps might not have reached these standards yet," said Mrs Teo, after showing MPs pictures of living conditions in newer dormitories.
The minister said that when lapses are found, these must be rectified immediately. Dorm operators can be fined up to $50,000, jailed for up to a year, or both for such offences.
This amounts to nearly half of the 43 such dormitories regulated under the Foreign Employee Dormitories Act (Feda), which together house some 200,000 workers.
An average of 1,200 employers a year have also been punished for providing unacceptable accommodation for their workers, said Mrs Teo, responding to questions from MPs, including Workers' Party MP Png Eng Huat (Hougang), who asked about the virus outbreak among foreign workers.
She told the House on Monday (May 4) that accommodation standards for migrant workers have become better over the years, but acknowledged that further improvements could be made.
The living conditions in these large dormitories have been under scrutiny in recent weeks as the number of workers infected with Covid-19 rises.
"We will see how standards can be raised, but keep in mind there are also older dorms which perhaps might not have reached these standards yet," said Mrs Teo, after showing MPs pictures of living conditions in newer dormitories.
The minister said that when lapses are found, these must be rectified immediately. Dorm operators can be fined up to $50,000, jailed for up to a year, or both for such offences.
