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Mr Low, the residents of Hougang are not interested in your endless wayang. They are more interested in bread and butter issues. They want results, they do not want to live your slum anymore
WP's Low pursuing political objectives: Grace Fu
The focus should be on the bread-and-butter issues of town council management, she says
by Leong Wee Keat 05:55 AM Jun 17, 2010SINGAPORE - The relationship between upgrading and maintenance - as Workers' Party chief Low Thia Khiang had painted - "is not a direct one", Senior Minister of State for National Development Grace Fu said yesterday.
On Tuesday, Mr Low argued that upgrading programmes do not just build additional facilities but also include upgrading of common areas such as the common corridor as well as the replacement of lift lobby tiles.
However, Ms Fu yesterday refuted the Opposition Member of Parliament's argument as too simplistic.
"If you have lift upgrading, originally you have two lifts, now you have six or eight lifts, surely after that you need to have cleaners to clean the lifts," she explained. "In some areas, there may be savings, but in others, there may be an increase in workload of town councils."
Ms Fu reiterated yesterday that the first Town Council Management Report is not about pitting "People's Action Party (PAP) town councils versus the Opposition town councils".
An estate's upgrading eligibility depends on its age and not all PAP wards qualify for them too, she added.
Yesterday, Ms Fu also took issue with Mr Low's press statement - the Hougang Town Council chairman's second since the report was released last week.
Mr Low had accused Ms Fu of "attempting to mislead Singaporeans (into) believing that the PAP Government is fair to all town councils, including those managed by Opposition parties".
The WP leader had also called on the Government to let the public know how much additional funding each PAP town council had received through various upgrading programmes.
But Ms Fu countered yesterday that "Mr Low is using the TCMR to pursue his political objectives".
"He has mentioned in his press release that he has asked questions twice, but since I came to MND (Ministry of National Development), he has asked four or five times," Ms Fu said.
"I just want to say that for TCMR I just want to focus on the bread-and-butter issues of town council management, the key indicators that we are concerned with."
Currently, town councils are measured through four key areas - cleanliness, maintenance, lift performance, and service and conservancy charges arrears management.
Yesterday, Ms Fu rejected Mr Low's suggestion for two more criteria - the extent of Government funding that each town council receives and the amount of S&CC charges it has written off - to be taken into account for future assessments.
"We just want to focus on these few indicators, let it stabilise, let us get familiar with the indicators before we look at how we can improve the system better," she said.
Ms Fu added that the anxiety over the first TCMR assessment is also felt among some PAP town councils.
"The TCMR does focus attention on the town councils, and it is not easy running a town council, because ... you have the pressure not to increase your S&CC even though your manpower costs, your utility costs have gone up over time," she said.
WP's Low pursuing political objectives: Grace Fu
The focus should be on the bread-and-butter issues of town council management, she says
by Leong Wee Keat 05:55 AM Jun 17, 2010SINGAPORE - The relationship between upgrading and maintenance - as Workers' Party chief Low Thia Khiang had painted - "is not a direct one", Senior Minister of State for National Development Grace Fu said yesterday.
On Tuesday, Mr Low argued that upgrading programmes do not just build additional facilities but also include upgrading of common areas such as the common corridor as well as the replacement of lift lobby tiles.
However, Ms Fu yesterday refuted the Opposition Member of Parliament's argument as too simplistic.
"If you have lift upgrading, originally you have two lifts, now you have six or eight lifts, surely after that you need to have cleaners to clean the lifts," she explained. "In some areas, there may be savings, but in others, there may be an increase in workload of town councils."
Ms Fu reiterated yesterday that the first Town Council Management Report is not about pitting "People's Action Party (PAP) town councils versus the Opposition town councils".
An estate's upgrading eligibility depends on its age and not all PAP wards qualify for them too, she added.
Yesterday, Ms Fu also took issue with Mr Low's press statement - the Hougang Town Council chairman's second since the report was released last week.
Mr Low had accused Ms Fu of "attempting to mislead Singaporeans (into) believing that the PAP Government is fair to all town councils, including those managed by Opposition parties".
The WP leader had also called on the Government to let the public know how much additional funding each PAP town council had received through various upgrading programmes.
But Ms Fu countered yesterday that "Mr Low is using the TCMR to pursue his political objectives".
"He has mentioned in his press release that he has asked questions twice, but since I came to MND (Ministry of National Development), he has asked four or five times," Ms Fu said.
"I just want to say that for TCMR I just want to focus on the bread-and-butter issues of town council management, the key indicators that we are concerned with."
Currently, town councils are measured through four key areas - cleanliness, maintenance, lift performance, and service and conservancy charges arrears management.
Yesterday, Ms Fu rejected Mr Low's suggestion for two more criteria - the extent of Government funding that each town council receives and the amount of S&CC charges it has written off - to be taken into account for future assessments.
"We just want to focus on these few indicators, let it stabilise, let us get familiar with the indicators before we look at how we can improve the system better," she said.
Ms Fu added that the anxiety over the first TCMR assessment is also felt among some PAP town councils.
"The TCMR does focus attention on the town councils, and it is not easy running a town council, because ... you have the pressure not to increase your S&CC even though your manpower costs, your utility costs have gone up over time," she said.
