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Tag: increase

  • Osman Sulaiman: Time For 30% Increase In Singaporeans’ Salaries

    Osman Sulaiman: Time For 30% Increase In Singaporeans’ Salaries

    For 2017, ensure that your salary increase is at least $130. If not, you will get poorer:

    1. electricity tariff. It has risen by an average 5.7%. Going by news report, the average monthly electricity bill for families living in four-room HDB flats will increase by S$4.30. Multiply that by 12 months and you get $51.60

    2. water prices. It will be increased by 30% from July. An average monthly water bill of $150 will cost $195 in July. An increase of $45

    3. If you stay in one of the 15 PAP town council wards, service and conservancy charges will increase from June and the increase will range from $0.50 to $9 per month. Let’s take $4.50 as an average. This will mean an increase of $31.50 from June till year end.

    $51.60 + $45 + $31.50 = $128.10

    As what Minister Indranee has mentioned, it boils down to how you can increase your income.

    Now go and ask for a raise.

     

    Source: Khan Osman Sulaiman

  • PAP Town Councils To Raise S&CC Charges From Jun 1

    PAP Town Councils To Raise S&CC Charges From Jun 1

    From Jun 1, all 15 town councils run by the ruling People’s Action Party (PAP) will raise their service and conservancy charges (S&CC) for flats, shops and offices, as well as market and cooked food stalls.

    The adjustments are necessary for the town councils to keep up with the rising costs associated with maintaining estates, the town councils said in a joint statement on Friday (Feb 17).

    To help residents cushion the impact of the changes, the S&CC increase will be phased over two years. The first tier increase takes effect on Jun 1 and ranges from S$0.50 to S$9 a month, depending on the flat type.

    The second tier increase, with effect from Jun 1 next year, ranges from S$0.50 to S$8 a month, depending on flat type.

    For commercial property owners and tenants, the first increase will range from S$0.09 to S$0.27 per sq m a month, while the increase for market and food stalls is between S$2.70 and S$23.00 per month. The second increase next year will be between S$0.05 to S$0.21 per sq m a month for commercial property owners and tenants, and between S$2.50 and S$17.50 a month for market and food stalls.

    “The adjustments will enable the town councils to build up their sinking funds to replace old lifts, undertake essential cyclical maintenance and component replacements, and carry out the Lift Enhancement Programme. Expenditure requirements in these areas are significant and will continue to grow as our estates get older,” the statement said.

    Previous Budgets have included S&CC rebates. Last year, rebates of S$86 million were handed out. S$85 million of S&CC rebates were handed out in Budget 2015 and S$80 million in 2014.

     

    Source: www.channelnewsasia.com

  • Lui Tuck Yew: Drop In Oil Price Could See Decrease In Public Transport Fares

    Lui Tuck Yew: Drop In Oil Price Could See Decrease In Public Transport Fares

    The drop in energy prices seen in 2014 could translate to a reduction in public transport fares in the next fare review exercise at the end of the year.

    Based on available data for 2014, the fare adjustment could be “in the region of negative one per cent”, said Transport Minister Lui Tuck Yew in Parliament on Monday (Jan 19), in response to a question on the fall in oil prices.

    MP Gan Thiam Poh had asked, with regard to the ongoing 2014 fare review exercise, whether the Public Transport Council would consider a reduction of transport fares, as a result of the fall in oil prices since June 2014.

    However, Mr Lui noted that the ongoing fare review exercise, which started in November 2014, looks at changes in indices for 2013.

    “We will have to leave it to the Public Transport Council to assess the public transport operators’ applications for fare increase, the fare adjustment quantum as given by the formula and the affordability of public transport for Singaporeans, amongst other things, and decide on the fare adjustment,” the minister said.

    The fare formula is pegged to changes in the core consumer price index, wage index and energy index over the preceding year. This reflects the operating cost structure of public transport operators, said Mr Lui.

    The core consumer price index and wage index account for 40 per cent of the formula each. The energy index component, which accounts for energy and fuel costs, makes up 20 per cent.

    In the ongoing 2014 exercise, the value of the energy index component was negative 12.6 per cent – due to lower energy prices in 2013 – but the core consumer price index went up by 1.7 per cent, while the wage index saw an increase of 4.3 per cent.

    The fare adjustment quantum yielded by the formula would have been negative 0.6 per cent for the 2014 fare review exercise. However, the previous fare review exercise had announced a fare increase of 6.6 per cent in two steps.

    A 3.2 per cent hike was introduced in April last year, with the 3.4 per cent increase to be carried over to the ongoing review. Mr Lui explained that is why there is a 2.8 per cent fare adjustment quantum for the ongoing fare review exercise.

    The next fare review exercise is set to take place towards the end of 2015 and is based on data for the full year of 2014.

     

    Source: www.channelnewsasia.com

  • Public Transport Fare Set To Increase Again: “Review” Underway

    Public Transport Fare Set To Increase Again: “Review” Underway

    The Public Transport Council (PTC) on Wednesday (Nov 19) announced it has started the annual fare review exercise.

    Public transport operators may submit their applications for fare review to the PTC for consideration by Dec 19. The decision will be announced in the first quarter of 2015, according to the press release.

    Responding to media queries, SMRT’s Vice-President for Corporate Information and Communications Patrick Nathan said: “We seek a better alignment of fares and operating costs, and will be submitting our application for a fare review in the coming weeks.”

    To evaluate applications robustly, the PTC will take guidance from the fare review mechanism and fare adjustment formula recommended by the Fare Review Mechanism Committee and accepted by the Government in Nov 2013.

    The new fare adjustment formula is now based on core inflation (excluding property and car prices), average wage increase and an energy component.

    “This will ensure a good balance between meeting the needs of the commuting public and keeping the public transport system financially sustainable. In discharging its responsibilities, the PTC will pay particular attention to fare affordability for the more vulnerable groups of commuters,” the PTC said.

    Public transport fares were last adjusted in Apr 2014 as part of the 2013 fare review. There was a fare increase of 3.2 per cent – just half of the total fare cap of 6.6 per cent. It means the remaining 3.4 per cent will be brought forward to this year’s fare review exercise.

    Mr Cedric Foo, chairman of the Government Parliamentary Committee for Transport, said: “If you look at the new formula, it has a new component called the Energy Index and that constitutes 20 per cent of the formula.

    “As we have seen lately, fuel prices are coming down. Therefore, they hope that if you apply this formula, and core inflation is also not high, wage inflation is also not high, they hope that this may be zero or even negative. So I am hopeful that the full 3.4 per cent rollover from last year will not be implemented in full.”

    INSULATING VULNERABLE GROUPS

    In a Facebook post on Wednesday, Transport Minister Lui Tuck Yew commented on the fare review exercise, stating that public transport must continue to be affordable for all Singaporeans.

    “I hope that the Public Transport Council will study if we can insulate vulnerable groups such as senior citizens from a fare increase, or at least mitigate the impact on them,” he wrote. “In the same regard, the Ministry of Transport will also study how we can similarly enhance the concession schemes Government introduced for lower-wage workers and persons with disabilities earlier this year.

    Mr Lui added that this exercise builds on the improvements of last year’s fare review, and he has received “positive feedback” from Singaporeans who have benefited from new and enhanced travel concession schemes.

    These include monthly concession passes for polytechnic students, and the introduction of the Adult Monthly Travel Pass, which frequent commuters can purchase to cap their transport expenditure.

    “I hope the PTC can consider not raising the prices of these travel passes,” wrote Mr Lui. “I have also asked the Land Transport Authority to study whether we can strengthen our ongoing travel demand management efforts, and encourage more commuters to travel during the off-peak hours. Perhaps the Government can introduce off-peak monthly passes; which should also help reduce the travel expenditure for this group of commuters.”

    Still, Mr Foo said that one still has to look at the overall trend of fare increases: “If you look at it over the last six years, actually the compound annual growth rate in fare is well below half a per cent.

    “If we look at wages, wages have clearly increased by more than half a per cent at each point. So, in the context of long-term fare trend, fare increases cannot remain at zero for good. That’s unrealistic because it’s not sustainable. But let me stress at even if there is a modest increase in fares, we have to look after the vulnerable groups.”

     

    Source: www.channelnewsasia.com

  • DAP: Toll Hikes Reap Exorbitant Profits for Malaysia Resource Corporation Sdn Bhd

    DAP: Toll Hikes Reap Exorbitant Profits for Malaysia Resource Corporation Sdn Bhd

    Toll concessionaire Malaysian Resources Corporation Berhad (MRCB) will reap “exorbitant profits”, Malaysia’s opposition said on Monday after the government revealed that 1.5 million paying vehicles crossed the Causeway in August after a toll-hike that has begun to hit Johor’s economy.

    Malaysia’s works ministry revealed in Parliament last week that in the month following the August 1 hike, 729,657 paid the toll to enter Singapore while 721,384 shelled out the increased fare going the other way.

    Malaysia added RM6.80 (S$2.63) each way to the existing RM2.90 to enter Johor from Singapore for cars, while buses saw a RM5.50 increase in both directions on top of the RM2.30 already paid heading north.

    According to opposition Democratic Action Party (DAP), this totals close to RM11 million per month, the same as the compensation paid by the government to MRCB since 2012 when the toll hike was to come into effect but was delayed ahead of last year’s closely-fought general elections.

    DAP assistant publicity chief Teo Nie Ching said yesterday this would mean that the government-linked MRCB would rake in RM4.3 billion by the end of its 34-year concession, despite the Eastern Dispersal Link (EDL) highway – which terminates at the Johor Baru immigration complex – only costing RM1.2 billion.

    “The profit that they are going to make from toll collection is still exorbitant and astronomical,” the Johor-based MP said, adding that this was before taking into consideration future toll hikes written into the concession deal and increasing traffic volume over the next three decades.

    Singapore matched Malaysia’s collection on Oct 1, bringing the cost of a roundtrip to $13, from just $2.35 as recently as July.

    The double hike caused alarm over the chilling economic impact especially to the Iskandar region – crucial to both nations – in Johor, which has just begun booming in the past two years after a quiet start.

    Even Malaysian ruling party leaders were critical of the hike, such as Public Accounts Committee chief Nur Jazlan Mohamad who told The Straits Times “both governments have to decide if they want Iskandar or not because instead of promoting it, they are imposing a de facto tax.”

    MRCB has insisted that the financing cost incurred to build the EDL – an elevated highway connecting the Johor Baru immigration complex to the North-South Expressway – alone is RM11 million a month, with an additional RM1 million needed for operations and maintenance.

    It also claims that it only collects RM6.80 upon exit and entry at the immigration complex (and not the existing RM2.90) but that up to 200,000 motorists use the EDL for free within Johor without crossing the border.

    Ms Teo added that Kuala Lumpur “should immediately declassify concession agreement with MRCB so that Malaysians will know if our government has again abused its power to enrich its crony.”

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