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Tag: Khaw Boon Wan

  • Parliament To Debate Lapses Highlighted in AGO’s Audit Of WP’s AHPETC

    Parliament To Debate Lapses Highlighted in AGO’s Audit Of WP’s AHPETC

    Parliament will sit today, with the Auditor-General’s report on the audit of the Aljunied-Hougang-Punggol East Town Council (AHPETC), as well as the calculation of public transport fares on the agenda.

    A total of 45 questions were submitted by Members of Parliament for this sitting: Thirty-three questions for oral answer and 12 for written answer.

    Minister of National Development Khaw Boon Wan will move a motion on the Auditor-General’s report on the AHPETC, which flagged major lapses in “governance and compliance”.

    The Ministry of National Development will call for a stronger legislative framework for town councils, in order to hold those responsible for their good management to proper account, and will also call on all Town Councils to uphold high standards of accounting, reporting and corporate governance to safeguard residents’ interest.

    The Members of Parliament have also submitted questions on a wide range of topics, covering childcare centres, public transport fees, the Productivity and Innovation Credit scheme and the rental or sale of HDB flats, among others.

    The State Lands (Amendment) Bill and the Land Acquisition (Amendment) Bill will be introduced during this Parliament sitting. The second reading for the Deep Seabed Mining Bill will also be deliberated.

    The report by the Auditor-General following its audit of the Aljunied-Hougang-Punggol East Town Council (AHPETC) revealed that key individuals running the town council also have stakes in companies it hired to manage its estates.

    Experts have said that in cases where there are such conflicts of interests, a possible solution may be to have an independent body overseeing some of the town council’s management processes, such as when it calls for tenders.

    Lapses in the management of related party transactions were among the findings in the Auditor-General’s report that was released on Monday (Feb 9).

    The Auditor-General’s report found that AHPETC had hired two managing agents to carry out estate maintenance services. One of these was FM Solutions and Services Management (FMSS), which was first set up in May 2011.

    FMSS’ managing director, general manager and two deputy general managers are shareholders in the company. They are also on the management board of the AHPETC – holding the position of secretary, general manager and deputy general managers.

    AHPETC’s secretary also owns FM Solutions and Integrated Services (FMSI), a sole proprietorship. FMSI was engaged as a managing agent to manage precincts under the Hougang Town Council from April 2011 to June 2012.

    Among the lapses highlighted in the Auditor-General’s report, it was found that a fee of S$1.28 million paid to the two companies for services during the financial year of 2012 to 2013 was not recorded in its financial statements.

    Invoices made to the two companies were also issued and signed by the town council’s general manager and secretary, who were acting in their capacity as director of FMSS and owner of FMSI respectively.

    The report said the town councils did not adequately manage the conflicts of interests that arose.

    Associate Professor Mak Yuen Tee, who is with the National University of Singapore Business School, said: “The minimum is to declare and make people aware that you have those conflicts, to then not be involved on both sides of the transactions. In other words, you should not be verifying the payments and then approving the payments.

    “Ideally, you want a situation where you are not sitting on both sides – either you step off the town council or you do not get involved with the managing agent.”

    A possible alternative is to have an independent body overseeing some of the management processes like tenders for projects where there might be potential conflicts of interests.

    Assoc Prof Mak added: “If you need estate management services, one issue would be what are the available options out there. If you call a tender, are you able to get different organisations to participate in the tender?

    “I am involved in organisations where we call tenders and sometimes you do not have enough options and you end up selecting from a list of one. Ideally, you do not want that to happen but sometimes it will. If that happens and you end up in a related party situation, then that is where you need to take steps to mitigate that by involving people who are independent to review and to approve.”

    Another solution is to develop or adopt a framework that can help the town council improve its management processes and manage risks.

    Mr Sidney Lim, managing director of Protiviti Singapore, a company that deals with corporate governance, said: “The framework essentially looks at the three different risks that organisations face – the compliance risk, operational risk and reporting risk. And what is in the framework is a series of processes as well as components to help them manage and improve on corporate governance.”

     

    Source: www.channelnewsasia.com

  • Life Corporation: Conduct In Winning Tender Was Open And Transparent

    Life Corporation: Conduct In Winning Tender Was Open And Transparent

    Life Corporation, the parent company of Eternal Pure Land, has defended its conduct in winning the tender for a Fernvale Link site where it had originally planned to build a commercial columbarium.

    Making its first comments since news emerged last week that it had ignored land use gazettes by planning to build a commercial columbarium even though it is not affiliated to any religious organisations, the company said yesterday in a filing with the Australian Securities Exchange that the tender process was open and transparent. “Life Corporation provided all information required and requested in accordance with tender conditions,” it said. It added that it understands recent public sentiment that ownership of such land development should be by a non-profit religious organisation.

    “It has always been (the company’s) intention that the temple component of the development … be headed by religious individuals,” Life Corporation said.

    Repeated calls and email queries sent to the company by TODAY have gone unanswered.

    The plans to build the commercial columbarium had riled some would-be residents of the Fernvale Lea Build-to-Order (BTO) project, so much so that they asked the Housing and Development Board (HDB) for a refund on their flat. An online petition was also started by current and would-be residents around Fernvale Link, where the proposed temple site is, in a bid to stop the development.

    Last Thursday, National Development Minister Khaw Boon Wan revealed in Parliament that the HDB awarded the site to Eternal Pure Land “under the impression that the company (was) a vehicle for a religious organisation to build and own a Chinese temple”.

    Mr Khaw said the HDB officers made the wrong assumptions and awarded the tender to Eternal Pure Land, which made the highest bid.

    The Government will ensure that the original plan of building a Chinese temple is reinstated. It is also in discussions with the company. The authorities have also embarked on a review of its land-tender process for places of worship, prompted by feedback.

    Life Corporation had announced the successful tender on July 21 last year. Adding that it has made preliminary plans regarding the operation of the temple, the company said in the filing that it is “sensitive to recent public and Government comments”, and it is exploring with the Government whether a “mutually satisfactory and viable solution can be found in due course”.

     

    Source: www.todayonline.com

  • Khaw Boon Wan: Plans For Buddhist Temple and Commercial Columbarium In Sengkang Will Not Proceed

    Khaw Boon Wan: Plans For Buddhist Temple and Commercial Columbarium In Sengkang Will Not Proceed

    Singapore’s minister for national development Khaw Boon Wan on Thursday said he would not allow plans for a Buddhist temple and commercial columbarium in Sengkang to proceed. He also said his ministry would “find a way” to deliver the Chinese temple the land was originally earmarked for.

    Responding to multiple questions filed by three different MPs, he said in Parliament that it was the first time the government allowed a secular company to win the tender for the plot of land in Sengkang’s Fernvale estate, located near to two upcoming Build-To-Order HDB projects as well as an executive condominium.

    The case of the Sengkang Chinese Temple plot raised the ire of Singaporeans who had purchased flats under the project — the company, Eternal Pure Land, opted to build a Buddhist temple with a commercial columbarium on the area, plans that would-be residents said they did not know about before they opted to purchase homes there.

    Several requested refunds, expressing concern that the presence of the columbarium would impact the resale value of their flats, while others said they did not want to expose their children to “these things so young in their lives”, according to previous local media reports on the issue. Some 400 disgruntled people also attended a dialogue earlier this month with MP Lam Pin Min, who oversees the area.

    Speaking in Parliament on Thursday, Khaw said the tender process, in place since 1991, has always allowed both religious organisations and secular companies to participate, because religious organisations often form companies to engage in such tenders on their behalf.

    “The assumption is that only companies affiliated to religious organisations would participate in such tenders,” he said.

    The minister explained that the tender was awarded to Eternal Pure Land with the impression that the company was a vehicle for a religious organisation to build a Chinese temple, noting that a commercial columbarium is different from the columbarium services provided by religious organisations alongside temples.

    “We now understand that [Eternal Pure Land] is actually a private company without any religious affiliation. From what we know, the plan of the company is to run a commercial columbarium on the site,” he said. “This is not in line with our plan for the Places of Worship site.”

    The company had placed a winning bid of $5.2 million for the plot of land in July last year.

    “Having reached such a situation, I’ll find a way to try to unwind this,” he continued. “The key point is for that Sengkang site we want the Chinese temple and we will deliver that, for that Sengkang site we do not want a commercial columbarium and we won’t have one.”

    Khaw said his ministry is currently reviewing the existing land tender process for places of worship, working with religious groups to tighten eligibility requirements for tenderers.

    “The Sengkang temple case has highlighted the necessity for such a review. I will provide more information when the review is completed,” he said.

     

    Source: https://sg.news.yahoo.com

  • 5th Floor 5 Room Pinnacle@Duxton Flat Sold for $918,000

    5th Floor 5 Room Pinnacle@Duxton Flat Sold for $918,000

    SINGAPORE – A second Pinnacle@Duxton unit has been sold on the resale market.

    The five-room, 106 sq m flat on the fifth floor of the iconic Housing Board project at Tanjong Pagar went for $918,000 on Monday.

    A 43-year-old DWG agent who handled the transaction said the buyers, who paid fully in cash, are a local couple in their 60s and their daughter who are downgrading from a private property. The sellers are a local couple in their mid-40s, who live with their two young children.

    “The flat is on a very low floor, so the current owners were more realistic with the price,” said the agent, who declined to be named. “They bought the flat for under $400,000,so they are quite happy with the selling price.”

    This sale comes after the five-year minimum occupation period for most home owners at the project ended last month. Last week, The Straits Times reported that a four-room flat between the 34th and 36th storeys was sold for $900,000.

     

    Source: www.straitstimes.com

  • Khaw Boon Wan: Power To HDB To Enter Flat To Carry Out Repairs

    Khaw Boon Wan: Power To HDB To Enter Flat To Carry Out Repairs

    The Housing Board should be given the power to enter a flat in order for repair works to be carried out more promptly, said National Development Minister Khaw Boon Wan on Monday.

    He wrote in a blog post: “We need to do more to help our residents who are inconvenienced by their neighbours who refuse to cooperate. Minimally, HDB should be given the power to enter the flat for the purpose of carrying out the necessary investigations and repairs. We will need to amend the legislation to empower the HDB to do so.”

    Each year, about 2,800 – or 30 per cent of – ceiling leak cases take more than three months to resolve due to uncooperative neighbours, he wrote. He was referring to upper-floor residents who refuse entry by the HDB to investigate and carry out repairs for ceiling leaks.

    “In some rare cases, the resolution of the ceiling leak problem could take more than a year. This is just not satisfactory,” he said, adding that in the majority of cases, repair works such as waterproofing have to be done within the upper-floor units.

    “This delays the repair unneccesarily and meanwhile, the lower-floor residents suffer the inconveniences.”

    Mr Khaw added that ceiling leakages make up about a quarter of the complaints that the HDB receives.

    He also pointed out that the HDB’s Goodwill Repair Assistance scheme, which helps residents with subsidised repair costs, has benefited 140,000 households since its inception in 2001. Under the scheme, the HDB bears 50 per cent of the repair costs, with the other half shared equally by upper and lower floor flat owners. On average, flat owners pay about $180 for each ceiling leak repair.

     

    Source: www.straitstimes.com