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Foreign vehicles with unpaid toll and fees to be banned from entry, exit under amended laws

SINGAPORE — Laws will be amended by the first quarter of this year to ban the entry or exit of foreign vehicles with unpaid toll and fees.

TODAY file photo

TODAY file photo

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SINGAPORE — Laws will be amended by the first quarter of this year to ban the entry or exit of foreign vehicles with unpaid toll and fees.

This was revealed in the report by the Public Accounts Committee on lapses and irregularities within ministries and other government agencies previously flagged by the Auditor-General. The committee’s report was submitted to Parliament on Tuesday (Jan 17) and released on Wednesday.

The Land Transport Authority (LTA) had previously revealed that the estimated annual revenue loss from motorist dodging tolls fees at checkpoints was about S$12 million, and it was mulling amending the Road Traffic Act to tackle the issue.

According to the Public Accounts Committee’s report, the LTA, aside from amending laws, will also work with the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA) to link its collection system to the ICA’s system by financial year 2016/17, and roll it out by the following financial year. Currently, the two systems are not linked, allowing motorists to clear immigration without paying the correct toll and fees.

In the Auditor-General’s report in its annual audit of the public sector released last year, several government agencies were taken to task for lapses. These included the Ministry of Education, which did not follow up promptly on recovering tuition fees and study loans, and the National Arts Council, which paid a consultancy fee of S$410,000 for the construction of a centralised bin centre costing S$470,000.

The Housing and Development Board (HDB) was also rapped for inadequate oversight of car parks in housing and industrial estates and evasion of parking fees.

The Public Accounts Committee studies the accounts of the Government and how public monies are spent. It comprises eight Members of Parliament, and is chaired by East Coast GRC MP Jessica Tan.

For its latest report, it looked at the findings made by the Auditor-General for financial years 2014/15 and 2015/16, as well as the follow-up action taken by the various government agencies.

Among other things, the report revealed that after rules were amended on July 11 last year to allow the HDB to take enforcement action against motorists who deliberately skip out on paying parking charges, the HDB issued 199 parking offence notices to such motorists in less than two months.

The Ministry of National Development also told the committee that the HDB was exploring the use of analytic tools to flag cases of evasion of payment by the first quarter of this year. It will also publicise convicted cases as a warning to other motorists.

The committee, sharing its observations on the lapses on the whole, called for heads of agencies to “set the tone at the top” to ensure adherence to processes and controls as part of good governance.

It also said agencies must should address the underlying causes for lapses. “Agencies should not introduce piecemeal measures that would result in more rules and procedures, which might increase bureaucracy and costs unnecessarily without addressing the fundamental causes of the lapses,” the committee said.

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