Aljunied town council’s ‘persistent poor performance’ of ‘grave public concern’: MND

4 Nov 2014

SINGAPORE:  The Aljunied-Hougang-Punggol East Town Council’s (AHPETC) “persistent poor performance” in service and conservancy charges arrears management, and corporate governance is of “grave public concern”, the Ministry of National Development (MND) said.

In its Town Council Management Report released on Tuesday (Nov 4), the MND said that most town councils performed well last year, although some “could do better” in the areas of estate maintenance, service and conservancy charge arrears management and corporate governance.



On AHPETC’s performance, MND said this is the second successive report that the town council has been banded “Red” for corporate governance, and the third successive report that it has been banded “Red” for service and conservancy charge arrears management.

Comment on Facebook:

I think MND is focusing on the wrong things. If you focus on arrears management then TC will all try to cut down on arrears in the S&C fees, which basically means MND is encouraging (directly or indirectly) TCs to be "Ah Longs".
Presumably, other measures of TC effectiveness would be proper maintenance of common property, low percentage of lift breakdowns, regular maintenance of lifts, cleanliness of common areas, low pest infestation rates, etc.
If these are all "A" grade, then arrears management (a.k.a. "Ah Long" simulation) would be a minor issue.
It's like I go to my regular coffee shop. But because I am a regular, I just order my teh-o every morning and tell them I will pay at the end of the month. But they don't keep track of what I owe, and at the end of the month when I settle my bill, they just give me a figure, which I find reasonable and I pay without question or complaint. However, it is a very irregular credit scheme with no records, and no documentation, and not auditable. They would get a failing grade for accounting.
But in terms of customer relationship, customer satisfaction, and returning customer, they score very well.
But of course, you can't run a TC as a kopi tiam. But that's for the TC to decide, perhaps.