Aljunied town council's performance 'of grave public concern': MND

SINGAPORE — The Aljunied-Hougang-Punggol East Town Council (AHPETC) has once again been banded “red” — the lowest rating — for its collection of service and conservancy charges (S&CC), and corporate governance in the annual Town Council Management Report released yesterday.

The Ministry of National Development (MND), which issued the report, said AHPETC’s “persistent poor performance” in S&CC arrears management and corporate governance is “of grave public concern”.

The report assessed town councils in five areas —  estate cleanliness, estate maintenance, lift performance, S&CC arrears management and corporate governance— using a green (top rating), amber, red banding system, over financial year (FY) 2013, from April 2013 to March 2014.

AHPETC, which is run by the Workers’ Party, is the only town council to receive a red banding in any area. This marks the third consecutive year that AHPETC has been banded red for S&CC arrears management, and the second time for corporate governance.

According to the report, Aljunied’s S&CC arrears rate rose from 2.6 per cent in FY 2010 to 8.4 per cent in FY 2011 and FY 2012, after the town councils in Aljunied GRC and Hougang merged.

As at end-April 2013, its S&CC arrears rate had further increased to 29.4 per cent. From May 2013, the town council stopped submitting its monthly S&CC arrears reports altogether, despite repeated reminders.

In the area of corporate governance, AHPETC was red-flagged as it has not shown that it has rectified various legal and regulatory violations reported by its independent auditors for FY 2011 and FY 2012. The town council has also not submitted its FY 2013 financial statements and self-declared corporate governance checklist.

Source: Ministry of National Development

This is the second time AHPETC has failed to submit the necessary documents on time — its audited financial statements, auditor’s report and corporate governance checklist for the last financial year were submitted only in February this year, three months after the MND issued the Town Council Management Report for FY 2012.

AHPETC was unable to comment on the report by press time. In Dec 2012, AHPETC chairman Sylvia Lim had attributed the town council’s poor performance in managing its services and conservancy charges arrears to the termination of IT services with software company AIM, which was later revealed to be owned by the People’s Action Party (PAP).

Source: Ministry of National Development

This sparked a review by the MND, which concluded that more time should be allowed for an operational handover of town councils when there is a change of political party in the ward.

In its latest report, the MND said most town councils had performed well in all areas. Estate maintenance, however, remains an area for improvement, with 11 town councils rated “Amber” in this category.

Potong Pasir Town Council was rated amber for S&CC arrears management, unchanged from last year. The MND, however, noted that the town council’s arrears rate had improved from 4.2 per cent last year to 3.7 per cent this year.

Potong Pasir Member of Parliament Sitoh Yih Pin said the amber grade must be “treated with sensitivity”. “There are families that are unable to pay, so we will take things step by step to help them and manage this,” he said.

Ang Mo Kio Town Council (AMKTC) and Chua Chu Kang Town Council (CCKTC) were rated amber for corporate governance due to technical breaches. AMKTC was late in transferring funds to its sinking fund bank account on two occasions by six and eight days respectively, as its authorised signatories were overseas when the transfers were due.

CCKTC did not transfer the correct amount to the sinking fund for the quarter ended September 2013 due to errors in calculation. Both town councils have since rectified the breaches.