<TABLE border=0 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%"><TBODY><TR>Town council report reflects residents too
</TR><!-- headline one : end --><TR>Aim is to get HDB dwellers more involved in estates </TR><!-- Author --><TR><TD class="padlrt8 georgia11 darkgrey bold" colSpan=2>By Zakir Hussain, Political Correspondent
</TD></TR><!-- show image if available --></TBODY></TABLE>
<!-- START OF : div id="storytext"--><!-- more than 4 paragraphs -->HDB residents, not just their town councils, will be under the spotlight when the Government launches its assessment of town councils later this year.
This is because the exercise aims to make HDB residents more aware of what is going on in their towns and to do something about it, says National Development Minister Mah Bow Tan.
Citing the example of estate cleanliness, he said it would measure not just 'how fast the cleaners work, but also how much care the residents take in keeping their town clean'.
It would be 'a way to get residents to take care of their town and make sure that it is not dirty', he noted.
Mr Mah made this point yesterday, three days after his ministry announced the impending move to assess the 16 town councils managing Housing Board estates in Singapore. The ministry will produce a report card by next year on how they fare in areas like cleanliness, facilities management and financial management.
It will be consulting residents, town councils and industry professionals on the criteria to use.
Mr Mah noted that when the report is published, comparisons across towns would be 'inevitable', but this was not the aim of the exercise.
'Some towns are older, some younger, some more spread out, some more compact. Each town has its own special characteristics. So it is not appropriate to take one set of numbers and compare them.
'I hope that when we finally publish the result, people will take note of this point. It is not a ranking exercise in the absolute sense of the word. It is certainly not meant to be a ranking exercise,' he said, reiterating a point made by his Senior Minister of State Grace Fu on Friday.
'It is meant to make residents aware of what is going on in their town and do something about it,' he added.
Asked if some residents might make use of the report to raise asking prices for their flats, or avoid dirtier towns, Mr Mah said this would be 'quite understandable', as Singaporeans like to live in clean, well-maintained towns with a lot of facilities.
'That is one of the probable outcomes of this exercise, and I don't think there is anything wrong with that,' he added.
What if town councils were not performing up to par in certain areas? Mr Mah said it would be for residents 'to make their views known to the councils'.
He hoped town councils would work with residents to explain that if they dirtied their town, more resources would be needed for cleaning up, and service and conservancy (S&C) charges may not be enough.
'If you keep the town clean, on the other hand, you don't need to spend so much in cleaning up, and S&C charges may be more than sufficient,' he said.
The People's Action Party runs 14 town councils, the Workers' Party runs Hougang and the Singapore People's Party runs Potong Pasir.
Asked about opposition councils potentially claiming that they may not have enough resources, Mr Mah said: 'All town councils will have to look at the resources available to them - S&C grants and government grants - and see how best they can make use of them.'
This would be a challenge for all town councils, whether PAP- or opposition-run, he said.
Yesterday morning, Mr Mah, an MP for Tampines GRC, attended a community sports festival for the North East district at Tampines Stadium. [email protected]
</TR><!-- headline one : end --><TR>Aim is to get HDB dwellers more involved in estates </TR><!-- Author --><TR><TD class="padlrt8 georgia11 darkgrey bold" colSpan=2>By Zakir Hussain, Political Correspondent
</TD></TR><!-- show image if available --></TBODY></TABLE>
<!-- START OF : div id="storytext"--><!-- more than 4 paragraphs -->HDB residents, not just their town councils, will be under the spotlight when the Government launches its assessment of town councils later this year.
This is because the exercise aims to make HDB residents more aware of what is going on in their towns and to do something about it, says National Development Minister Mah Bow Tan.
Citing the example of estate cleanliness, he said it would measure not just 'how fast the cleaners work, but also how much care the residents take in keeping their town clean'.
It would be 'a way to get residents to take care of their town and make sure that it is not dirty', he noted.
Mr Mah made this point yesterday, three days after his ministry announced the impending move to assess the 16 town councils managing Housing Board estates in Singapore. The ministry will produce a report card by next year on how they fare in areas like cleanliness, facilities management and financial management.
It will be consulting residents, town councils and industry professionals on the criteria to use.
Mr Mah noted that when the report is published, comparisons across towns would be 'inevitable', but this was not the aim of the exercise.
'Some towns are older, some younger, some more spread out, some more compact. Each town has its own special characteristics. So it is not appropriate to take one set of numbers and compare them.
'I hope that when we finally publish the result, people will take note of this point. It is not a ranking exercise in the absolute sense of the word. It is certainly not meant to be a ranking exercise,' he said, reiterating a point made by his Senior Minister of State Grace Fu on Friday.
'It is meant to make residents aware of what is going on in their town and do something about it,' he added.
Asked if some residents might make use of the report to raise asking prices for their flats, or avoid dirtier towns, Mr Mah said this would be 'quite understandable', as Singaporeans like to live in clean, well-maintained towns with a lot of facilities.
'That is one of the probable outcomes of this exercise, and I don't think there is anything wrong with that,' he added.
What if town councils were not performing up to par in certain areas? Mr Mah said it would be for residents 'to make their views known to the councils'.
He hoped town councils would work with residents to explain that if they dirtied their town, more resources would be needed for cleaning up, and service and conservancy (S&C) charges may not be enough.
'If you keep the town clean, on the other hand, you don't need to spend so much in cleaning up, and S&C charges may be more than sufficient,' he said.
The People's Action Party runs 14 town councils, the Workers' Party runs Hougang and the Singapore People's Party runs Potong Pasir.
Asked about opposition councils potentially claiming that they may not have enough resources, Mr Mah said: 'All town councils will have to look at the resources available to them - S&C grants and government grants - and see how best they can make use of them.'
This would be a challenge for all town councils, whether PAP- or opposition-run, he said.
Yesterday morning, Mr Mah, an MP for Tampines GRC, attended a community sports festival for the North East district at Tampines Stadium. [email protected]
