SINGAPORE — At least two town councils have drawn up plans to dangle incentives to encourage residents to keep their estates clean, with one offering a 50 per cent rebate in monthly service and conservancy charges for households deemed to be living in the cleanest blocks in two precincts.

Every three months, a block in Bishan/Sin Ming and another in Toa Payoh will be chosen as winners of a Cleanest Block Competition organised by the Bishan-Toa Payoh Town Council (BTPTC).

The winning blocks will be selected based on cleanliness ratings given by Housing and Development Board officers in the audit for the Town Council Management Report (TCMR).

Explaining the use of the TCMR audit as a measurement tool, BTPTC Chairman Hri Kumar Nair said: “According to the TCMR’s scoring methodology, the state of cleanliness of the blocks is observed by presence of litter, graffiti and bulky refuse. Problems that pose potential hygiene, health and safety concerns, for example, are given greater weightage.”

Results of the first competition will be announced in April and the pilot is slated to run for a year before being reviewed by the town council.

Besides residents, cleaners in the BTPTC will also be given monetary incentives through the Outstanding Cleaner Award. A cleaner will be awarded S$50 when residents call or write in to express their happiness with him or her.

The town council has more than 400 cleaners maintaining the estate daily, but it noted that maintenance costs have been rising in recent years.

“By simply exercising some care within the vicinity of their homes, the amount of litter can be greatly reduced,” said Mr Nair.

“Otherwise, over time, more cleaners will be required. We need to address this issue now as the cost of and difficulty in finding labour will continue to rise,” he added.

Chua Chu Kang Town Council also said it had similar plans to encourage residents to play their part in keeping their estate clean. Its Cleanest Precinct Competition will tentatively take place in April, after details — including the awards — are fine-tuned and approved at its next council meeting.

A check with six other town councils — East Coast, Moulmein-Kallang, Pasir Ris-Punggol, Potong Pasir, Sembawang-Nee Soon and Tampines — found that they currently had no plans to offer incentives to residents for keeping their estates clean.

Pasir Ris-Punggol Town Council Chairman Zainal Sapari said that while it did not have such plans, it “always looks forward to learning the best practices from other town councils”, and would look into offering incentives should the BTPTC’s efforts be successful. He also said that such measures would require finances to be available.

Citing that “every town council does things differently”, Tampines Town Council Chairman Masagos Zulkifli said his town council had chosen to focus on recycling efforts and building its town hub and was using education campaigns to reach out to the people.

“We try to get everyone involved in being green, and we are targeting schools and youths especially to become aware of the environment,” he said. “Using monetary incentives is not in our current plans.”