Town councils need to improve estate maintenance: MND

SINGAPORE — The majority of town councils were weakest in the area of estate management in the period between April last year to March, according to the FY2012 Town Council Management Report (TCMR) released today (Nov 21).

Of the 15 town councils (TC), nine were given an “amber” status for maintenance, which examines areas such as damaged pipes/walls and obstructions in common areas. An amber status means there were four to less than eight defects found per block.

Improvements particularly in the obstruction of common areas, which accounted for 35 per cent of all maintenance-related observations in FY2012, are needed, said the Ministry of National Development (MND). “These are potential fire hazards and can hamper evacuation efforts during emergencies.”

On the whole, only one town council, Aljunied-Hougang-Punggol East town coucil (AHPETC), was given a “red” status, and this was for its management of Service & Conservancy Charges (S&CC) Arrears. Potong Pasir town council was banded an “amber” for S&CC arrears management, while the remaining town councils were banded “green”.

In all the other indicators — namely estate cleanliness, lift performance and corporate governance — the town councils were banded “green” with the exception of AHPETC. The town council was given a “pending” status for corporate governance. The MND said the town council “has yet to submit their FY12 audited financial statements and reports, which are material to the banding of the corporate governance indicator”.

Released as a half-yearly report, the TCMR will now be released as an annual report to provide consistency across all indicators, said the MND.

“In 2012, MND enhanced the TCMR framework and introduced a new corporate governance indicator. As this indicator is assessed based on the TCs’ annual audited financial statements, it is reported annually on a financial year basis,” said the ministry.