Do you think HDB flats are priced at today's level so that S'poreans value the roof over their heads?
PM Lee: Water priced such that S'poreans value it
my paper
Wed, Jul 06, 2011
By Joy Fang
WATER is a valuable and limited resource, and Singapore needs to price its water at a level that would make people understand its worth, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said yesterday.
"You have to get the price right so that people understand that this is a scarce resource and will value it," he said, adding that producers of water should also be able to get economic return on their investment.
"If you make it free, nobody will bother to turn off the tap... They can leave it on since somebody else is paying."
Today, water tariffs are about three times those charged before 1997.
When water tariffs were raised yearly from 1997 to 2000, the Government was worried that people would not accept it, Mr Lee said.
"But one reason people accepted it was because, at that time, regularly, there were reminders from various quarters in neighbouring countries that if we were not compliant, they will threaten to cut our water off," he said.
Still, low-income families will not be left behind, he said.
There are schemes, such as the U-Save subsidies, to make water affordable for them.
Interesting read.
http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/220039/pricing-101/thomas-sowell
Pay up or it dries up.
PM Lee: Water priced such that S'poreans value it
my paper
Wed, Jul 06, 2011
By Joy Fang
WATER is a valuable and limited resource, and Singapore needs to price its water at a level that would make people understand its worth, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said yesterday.
"You have to get the price right so that people understand that this is a scarce resource and will value it," he said, adding that producers of water should also be able to get economic return on their investment.
"If you make it free, nobody will bother to turn off the tap... They can leave it on since somebody else is paying."
Today, water tariffs are about three times those charged before 1997.
When water tariffs were raised yearly from 1997 to 2000, the Government was worried that people would not accept it, Mr Lee said.
"But one reason people accepted it was because, at that time, regularly, there were reminders from various quarters in neighbouring countries that if we were not compliant, they will threaten to cut our water off," he said.
Still, low-income families will not be left behind, he said.
There are schemes, such as the U-Save subsidies, to make water affordable for them.
Interesting read.
http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/220039/pricing-101/thomas-sowell
Pay up or it dries up.
