The first Town Council Management Report (TCMR) has been released by the Ministry of National Development (MND). The report covers six indicators under four key areas – estate cleanliness, estate maintenance, lift performance and management of arrears in service & conservancy charges (S&CC). It is for the period Oct 2009 to Mar 2010.
In this first assessment of town councils’ performance, Potong Pasir Town Council is judged to have performed worse than the other councils. It scored four “Level 5” in six categories. Level 5 is for the lowest score while Level 1 is for the highest.
Potong Pasir is run by Mr Chiam See Tong, secretary general of the opposition Singapore People’s Party.
Over at the other opposition-held ward of Hougang, helmed by Mr Low Thia Khiang, the results were slightly better. The town council scored two “Level 5” and one “Level 4”.
As for the People’s Action Party town councils, the lowest score attained was “Level 3” by several town councils in various categories.
The best performing town councils, according to the results, seem to be Tanjong Pagar Town Council, helmed by Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew and Ang Mo Kio-Yio Chu Kang Town Council, headed by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong.
The MND says the “TCMR results should not be simplistically compared across towns. The more appropriate use of the results is for monitoring of the performance of Towns over time.”
It also “encouraged [residents] to enter into discussions with their Town Councils on their desired level of upkeep and how to jointly achieve their objective while taking the cost of service delivery into consideration.”
Read also: Potong Pasir Town Council rebuts ST report (November 2009).
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You can view the TCMR report here.
Here’s a quick look at the results:
How come not gauge on how TCc manage their funds? Is it because a number of the PAP TCs would qualify for a Level 5?
Another politicing campaign vs professionalising. Why Potong Psir is singled out especially when election time is coming? And we don’t really know how the ranking of Town Council works. It is better to put up a documentary by CNA on the process of this ranking exercise. Must be 100% transparent. And why Tg Pagar TC is singled out to be the best? Is it because that is LKY constituency?
does Potong Pasir have as much per capita funds to do stuff (including Upgrading funds) as other wards in Singapore?
if they have less funds, what happened to the rest of the funds? why is there a discrepancy?
Town Council management should not be the primary factor when people vote for the candidates. I stayed in Aljunied Crescent and the Marine Parade Town Council that manage the area don’t deserve a 2 for cleanliness. My void deck was bloody dirty and the TC don’t bloody bother to clean up the area!
it’s the same reason today you have half a page in straits times dedicated to the PHOTOGRAPH of an mp talking about new media.
since the topic was on new media, it didn’t bother to use that half page to show sample web pages of new media websites.
instead, the photo of the mp was more important.
this happens especially during election time. this is a form of thought control.
There is no glory and no honour in stabbing someone in the back and climbing over his dead body. Tsk, tsk…
this is seriously propagandistic nonsense. i’ve lived in potong pasir for a year before and i can safely say that it is very very very well maintained. in fact it’s one of the cleanest hdb estates i’ve encountered so far and all the residents there are very civil.
any wonder why ang mo kio and tanjong pagar got the highest score? come on…do the people who create these polls think that we don’t engage our grey matter.
we all know politicking exists everywhere but the least these people can do is not to make it look so blatantly cheap and obvious.
ang mo kio, tanjong pagar….seriously….
lee mun wai
then why hasn’t your MP used that big bundle of money to construct some lifts, or to make some sheltered walkways or repaint some stuff? what is your MP doing with all that upgrading money???
the report is a sick joke.
My son in primary school can do a better report!
Is an insult to the intelligent of average Singaprean.
Tanjung Pagar best?
Wonder how often MM Lee meets with his residents?
All I can see is the town councils of Potong Pasir and Hougang are discriminated. Bcos government only listens to the grassroots advisors, which incidentally are run by PAP. This must change by parliamentary act!
To: to munwai
firstly, i believe lift upgrading is something that is hdb’s responsibility and the MP of Potong Pasir has been trying to fight for hdb upgrading for the district for quite a while. why the hdb upgrading scheme does not reach potong pasir is something i’m still trying to figure out…politically motivated? i don’t know, you tell me.
covered walkways, one has been constructed that links the mrt station to the central so contrary to your statements there are covered walkways. I used to live in block 104 and i remember having shelter all the way to the bus stops and mrt station. i don’t know which part of p pasir you live in.
In addition to this, a new traffic light has been added recently. to the major town junction near the McDonald’s thereby allowing residents to cross safely and conveniently.
secondly, if maintainance to you only means a lift, covered walkways and a fresh coat of paint every so often, then remind me to not live near you because you have obviously missed the bigger picture of maintainence. as far as i’m concerned maintainence is keeping everything in a decent serviceable condition. all the lights work, the pavements are spotlessly clean, the walls are clean, and the dustbins are NEVER overflowing unlike in Geylang Bahru and Bukit Batok which I have lived in at some point of time in my life.
May I also add and re-emphasise that the residents in p pasir seem to have a higher level of civility as compared to the rest of singapore. I’ve hardly witnessed any spitting or unsightly behaviour from most of the residents there, many have dogs but there’s hardly any poo on the pavements.
so yes i think p pasir to me, on the contrary, one of the most liveable and well maintained estates in singapore.
if chiam see tong and his team can maintain p pasir in this pristine state with the obviously smaller funds that they have compared to the PAP, then i think most other estates with their much bigger budgets have a lot to be ashamed of.
please don’t mix up one off upgrading projects with maintainence. building new barbeque pits is not maintainence; keep a place spotlessly clean for the long term is.
Lee Mun Wai
Elections are on the way.
New alternative party MND is taking part and has just fired the first shot.
They show their class (or lack thereof) by putting the famiLee in the top 2 positions and the alternative parties in the bottom 2 positions. They have the mentality and finesse of a bull in a china shop!!! I must say that this is the classiest act I’ve seen in a long time.
Ya this report makes me sick…. i can’t help feeling that there is something wrong about this report…
we need to use our brains.
is everyone blind, HG and PP isnt penalized for cleanliness but maintanence, lift problems, and arrears.
http://www.towncouncils.sg/doing/Results.html
guess the people here are illiterate.
Chiam has also promised us lifts the last election, where is it? Potong pasir residents are not happy at the broken promise.
Hardly surprising. In fact, one would expect they are all out to discredit CST because he has stated his intent to run in a GRC at the next GE.
I am expecting more astro-turfing in the MSM to further discredit CST.
In a competition or judging event,
does the following matter? if so how much?
1. Who the Judge is.
2. What criteria are used And not used?
3. Transparency of decision and process.
i rest my case, your humness.
TP and AMK comes in 1st and 2nd??
So what, who cares??
PP and Hg comes in last??
It’s obvious, isn’t it??
Btw, what’s the motive of this stupid exercise??
To highlight that Singaporeans are indeed ‘daft’??
why singapore still a children anything
still on report.now s’pore is 45 years
old.even PAP or other party handler.
why must have 1.2.3 winner.
It is so obvious. I think Potong Pasir may not have good chance this time but not Hougang.. this sickening report and other sickening blunders by the present leadership will not do them any good either. I hope they wake up and sack all those stupid so-called strategists. Going forth, with the demise of the great one in the near future, the present leadership will not have a physical spine..then it will topple..I am really sad..
Let’s all remember, VOTE AGAINST all papy candidates in the next GE.
So typical of the PAP to playing childish games. We can expect more smoke and cheap parlour tricks from them before the elections are over. What should we expect next? Perhaps a ranking of MPs performance in Parliament? Would we not expect that Chiam See Tong and Low Thia Kiang be ranked at the bottom of the heap? The PAP resorts to politics of desperation.