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NEA’s rodent control plan 'could raise overall cost'

SINGAPORE — How the National Environment Agency (NEA) structures and manages its rodent surveillance and control programme has been criticised by the Auditor-General’s Office (AGO) for potentially increasing the overall cost of licking the rat problems.

The rat infestation at Bukit Batok  last year. TODAY file photo

The rat infestation at Bukit Batok last year. TODAY file photo

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SINGAPORE — How the National Environment Agency (NEA) structures and manages its rodent surveillance and control programme has been criticised by the Auditor-General’s Office (AGO) for potentially increasing the overall cost of licking the rat problems.

The NEA required its contractor to destroy rodent burrows only in areas under its purview, even though the contract it tendered out — at a value of S$4.19 million over two years — did not state this, said the AGO in its latest audit report released today (July 15).

The NEA told the AGO the contract was not accurately worded to state its intent, which was that, for burrows found in other areas, it would inform the relevant public agencies in charge of those spaces for them to take care of the problem themselves. The NEA added that it had made the requirements clear at a briefing it held for interested tenderers for the contract.

The AGO said this led to 115 burrows being found but not destroyed from September 2013 to January last year. As a result, 17 burrows in seven locations had increased to 32 burrows in a span of two to six months after the burrows were first detected. In addition, 16 burrows in nine locations had remained active for two to four months after they were found.

“In this regard, AGO observed that NEA had not actively followed up with the public agencies on actions taken to treat the active burrows detected,” the audit report said.

In response to media queries, the NEA said it has taken steps to address the observations made by the AGO. In its latest tender to procure services for the programme, contract specifications on the scope of work have been more clearly spelt out. The agency will also review procedures to improve coordination with owners of premises and public agencies to ensure that rat control efforts by all stakeholders are conducted effectively.

In December last year, a forested hill next to Bukit Batok MRT station made headlines for a rat infestation problem that saw more than 300 rats being killed by pest controllers after nearly three weeks of extermination operations. The following month, there were reports of rodent activity detected in the false ceilings of 14 food and beverage establishments at Marina Square and at one of its bin centres after a customer found a rat in a tray of vegetables at Hotpot Culture, a restaurant at the shopping centre.

Speaking in Parliament in January, Second Minister for Environment and Water Resources, Ms Grace Fu, told Parliament that 35,000 rat burrows were detected and treated by the NEA in the first 11 months of last year.

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