Rilek1Corner

Tag: PAP

  • 3000+ Punggol Residents Fed-Up With Their BTO Flats

    3000+ Punggol Residents Fed-Up With Their BTO Flats

    In Parliament yesterday (13 Jul), Minister of State for National Development Desmond Lee, who is the son of former PAP cabinet minister Lee Yock Suan, told the House that the quality of BTO flats undertaken by HDB has actually improved.

    He cited the CONQUAS score which measures the quality of buildings, showing that the quality of BTO flats has improved 13% from a score of 79 in 2003 to 89 in 2014.

    The quality of the flats has not been compromised despite a ramping up of BTO projects over the last 4 years, Mr Lee claimed. “It (quality) continues to rise and is comparable to that in private developments,” he said.

    He said that the majority of complaints with regard to the defects in new BTO flats are about “surface imperfections” such as hairline cracks on walls, scratches on timber floor, or uneven tile joints.

    “Such imperfections are mostly within acceptable industry norms and these are also common in private developments. They can and should be rectified quickly by the contractors, and do not affect the structural integrity or safety of the building.”

    Mr Lee argued that sometimes, it’s due to “differences in the understanding of what constitutes a defect”.

    “For example, some owners have given feedback on colour inconsistencies for floors with timber finishes. As timber is a natural product, it is not possible to achieve a perfectly homogenous look,” he said.

    Mr Lee assured the House that HDB has “zero tolerance” for defects which may compromise structural or safety standards.

    “Flooding” at Punggol Waterway Terraces BTO flats

    Just when Mr Lee tried to assure the House that BTO flats from HDB are of “high quality”, residents at the new Punggol Waterway Terraces BTO flats posted comments today (14 Jul) on their resident Facebook group, Punggol Waterway Terraces I [Link], complaining about rain water seeping into their flats from last night’s heavy downpour. Not only that, lift alarm was triggered waking everyone up.

    Resident, Johnny Chiang of Blk 308A wrote the following letter to their PAP MP Janil Puthucheary highlighting the problems the residents are facing with their BTO flats:

    Sir, I trust that everything is good and well on your side. It is with a heavy heart I Pen this issue on behalf of 3000+ residents because very obviously – Everything is NOT going well for the residents of Waterway Terraces 1.

    Apart from the previous issues including the 4 pipes placed awkwardly etc which we did not get much resolution from.

    Last night’s heavy downpour had caused several issues for many of us.

    At approx 2 am rain started pouring in and it seeped into the homes of many of our residents.

    This was accompanied by the ringing of lift alarm which woke most residents up. The Fire brigade were activated by our residents because we had to ensure if it was a no duff situation then help was rendered.

    Yes I agree that when mother nature decides to make her point, there isnt much anybody can do. But it also sets many of us wondering why many of our homes came with so much flaws.

    BSC has not been the best source of resolutions.

    I tag you here on social media on considerations for your administrators, because if we were to all write in, you would receive tons of the same email.

    For one, I do not believe in 200 emails to make a point across and sincerely seek your understanding on our intentions and voices together with much frustrations.

    I now invite all the affected residents to post their images and videos of the happenings last night and request that your good self, Our Honourable MP respond with your opinions.

    Yours sincerely

    Johnny Chiang
    On behalf of my neighbours of blk 308A
    And residents affected by the issues

    Other residents also joined in the discussion in their Facebook group:

    Fabian Lau: Alarm nt happen once already..twice since move in..first one is alarm twice..2am and 3am..last night just lighting and tio alarm..what alarm is that,if 100% move in i dont know what resident will say..this alarm really got problem and linked with wwt2…as for quality wise..the balcony door lock is not good will open itself when u lock other side ever though u lock both side..but i just close one eye..bsc is useless and just bear with it ..i guess all window is not heavy rain proof..just that few unit last night due to wind direction kanna..if next time wind direction change another side..new set of resident complain the window problem..water sit in etc …

    Jason Li: Home means the last stronghold for us. No matter how it looks, protecting us from wind and rain is the most basic functionality

    Jo Lene: Johnny Chiang thanks for voicing out for us. I have not move into my unit yet but I’m starting to worry about the “not rain proof” Windows n balcony doors… I saw videos n photos of the rain this morning, it was really scary that the rain can just sip in like that…

    Zeoane Goh: house living room n service bay slightly flooded. Cleaned up till 230am! :0 Rain was super big and big wind. Water seeped into living room thru the roller door at balcony.

    Xue Fang: Our living room, common rooms and master bed room were all affected as well…. can you imagine waking up with rain droplets on your face? Seriously, what premium price we paid to deserve this? Fire alarm goes off in the middle of the night and lasted for a while while we clean up the mess…. what a nightmare!

    Eric Loh: Pissed off with the lvl of work and still dare to say in news everything is up to standard in news. What the hell is hdb doing. I doing to support my buddy Johnny Chiang but honestly i don’t think janil puthhcheary will bother. I have come to a point which i have given up hope on all this people which so call said they will “help us”. Dont find reasons for ur mistake, find a solution please. No one in wwt1 which paid 300 over thousand excluding intereste will be happy about it.

    Candee Tan: Have anyone consider taking this to the media??

    Benny Ong: If we go on holidays, and another storm comes along while we’re away with electrical appliances on the floor, the house is at Super high risk of catching fire!

    Jenny Yang: OMG, I just happily got my keys last week, but now I am so disapointed. Stupid project, should ask them to compensate us for instaling windows at our balcony. Hi Johnny, appreciate your precious voices, hope they will do something about it. Thank you so much.

    Li Elle: water bubbling at the rails of 2 common bedrooms connected balcony, sip into our timber wood slightly too.

    At 13:52pm today (14 Jul), MP Puthucheary finally responded. He said he had contacted HDB and the town council:

    This is not the first time news of defects in Punggol Waterway Terraces surface. Last month, sociopolitical site The Online Citizen reported [Link] a BTO flat owner of Punggol Waterway Terraces, Adrian Chong, complained that the contractors who were supposed to fix the reported defects in his flat, ended up creating even more defects.

    Mr Chong noted that his parquet flooring got worse after the contractors tried to rectify some defects. A defective pipe was left unchanged. New defects kept appearing each day as the contractors tried to resolve old problems.

    “There are some defects which pictures won’t be able to tell much, like loosening of the rubber tracks for the sliding doors at the balcony and service yards.” said Mr Chong.

    “Considering the amount we paid for the flat, we did not expect to see such bad defects or bad workmanship. Water pressure of the tap, shower head and toilet flushing were also weak. Timber skirting around the house were also painted with white paint making it looked so cheapskate,” lamented Mr Chong on the quality of the furnishings.

    The defects were submitted to the building service centre set up by the building contractor, and Mr Chong was given an appointment to have a joint inspection with the supervisor to highlight and go through the defects.

    However, Mr Chong faced difficulties in getting the contractors to do a decent job without incurring new defects as they tried to rectify existing ones.

    “As working personnel, we do not have the luxury of time to keep going down to the unit to rectify the defects and monitor them. They (the contractors) delayed our renovation plans as we cannot start our renovation without having them to rectify the existing defects first.”

    He added that as a flat owner, the minimum expectations are to provide his family a unit that is free from defects and good enough to live in comfortably.

    This is especially so considering the fact that at Punggol Waterway Terraces, a 3-room flat ranges from $186,000 to $237,000 while a 5-room flat costs between $374,000 and $458,000.

    Other netizens wonder why older HDB flats did not seem to have so many problems.

    In any case, it’s not known what MP Puthucheary, HDB or the Pasir Ris-Punggol Town Council will do about the flooding issue. Pass the buck down to the foreign workers to fix?

     

    Source: www.tremeritus.com

  • Bishan-Toa Payoh Town Council Wanted To Disrupt Water Supple On Eve Of Hari Raya

    Bishan-Toa Payoh Town Council Wanted To Disrupt Water Supple On Eve Of Hari Raya

    A reader Siti Saad residing in Block 136 Bishan Street 12 got a rude shock when she received a mailer from Bishan-Toa Payoh Town Council that informed residents there will be disruption of water supply on 16 July 2015 between 9 am to 5.30 PM for works to replace water pipes.

    Ms Siti Saad believe this is insensitive of Bishan Toa Payoh Town Council as the date of disruption falls on the eve of Hari Raya when Muslims Singaporeans will be making preparations for the festive season.

    She urged the town council to reconsider the choice or date and remarked if this will happen during “Chinese New Year” or Christmas and ended her comment with hashtags #marginalizedmalays #sg50.

    Fortunately, the MP in her area Mr Wong Kang Seng was informed of the incident and promptly took remedy actions. He subsequently notified her that the replacement works will be carried out at a later date.

    Prior to the reply from Mr Wong, unhappy Singaporeans gave their opinions and assumptions of the incident.

    Do you think Bishan Toa Payoh town council could have done better?

    Source: www.allsingaporestuff.com

  • Stark Differences Between Hong Kong’s MTR And Singapore’s MRT

    Stark Differences Between Hong Kong’s MTR And Singapore’s MRT

    Earlier this year, CNN looked at why Hong Kong’s Mass Transit Railway (MTR) is so successful. CNN described MTR as the “most envied metro system” in the world (‘Hong Kong’s MTR: Taking a ride on the world’s most envied metro system‘).

    MTR was established as a public entity in 1973-74 before it was privatized and listed on the Hong Kong stock exchange as MTR Corporation Ltd in 2000. At the time, the Hong Kong government sold its stake in public utilities, with the aim of reducing expenditure and boosting overall efficiency. But the government remained majority shareholder of MTR Corp.

    MTR is both competitive and profitable, and able at the same time to serve the Hong Kong public efficiently.

    99% on-time performance

    “Hong Kong’s MTR is one of the best designed, best operated and most successful metro systems in the world,” said Robert Cervero, professor of city and regional planning at UC Berkeley.

    The system is world class in terms of finance, operation service and transit-property integration, says Jin Murakami, an associate professor at City University of Hong Kong.

    Hong Kong’s MTR carries more passengers (more than 5 million) than London’s subway and almost the same number as New York’s. This is despite Hong Kong having less track than London and New York.

    Figures show that MTR runs about 20 hours and 8,000 train trips per day, and it boasts a staggering 99.9% punctuality rate.

    In the first half of last year, MTR ran for 120 consecutive days without a single delay over 8 minutes, establishing a record for the company, if not the world.

    In contrast, there have been 60 over breakdowns and delays over the past 2 years for Singapore’s MRT, since LG (NS) Desmond Kuek took over SMRT Corp from his predecessor, Saw Phaik Hwa:

    The latest Singapore train service disruptions on Tuesday (7 Jul) affected 250,000 commuters at all 54 MRT stations on both the North-South Line and East-West Line, with many commuters taking their frustrations online, scolding SMRT – which runs both lines – and Desmond Kuek its CEO.

    MTR helps London Overground enhance its punctuality

    MTR’s reputation as one of the world’s top metros has attracted many international clients seeking its expertise.

    MTR now operates the London Overground, 2 lines of the Beijing Metro, as well as parts of the Shenzhen and Hangzhou Metro systems in China, the Melbourne Metro in Australia and the Stockholm Metro in Sweden.

    In 2014, it won a contract for a new rail project in Sydney. As part of the US$6.5-billion deal, MTR will deliver and operate the Australian city’s North West Rail Link, the largest public transport project in the country and its first fully automated rapid transit network.

    MTR also provides consultation services to railway networks around the world. According to a 2013 Wall Street Journal report, these overseas operations have improved both the network’s punctuality at home, as well as its profitability. London Overground enhanced its punctuality from 88.4% in 2007 to 96.7% in 2013 after MTR took over its operations for a year.

    Will the PAP government consider engaging MTR to help LG (NS) Kuek and his cohort of SAF officers? Or perhaps PAP thinks that SAF scholars and soldiers are better?

    Continual investment in maintenance, upgrades and renewals to train system needed

    Another key to MTR’s success in keeping Hong Kong’s subway in tip-top conditions is its willingness to continuously reinvest profits back into its MTR system.

    “A railway requires ongoing investment and a lot of resources in order to keep it in tip-top form,” said Jacob Kam, the operations director of MTR. “Even for a system considered state of the art, in 10 years time, everything – signaling systems, urban railways – will have changed.”

    Each year, US$645 million is invested in maintenance, upgrades and renewals to the MTR system. It’s a significant amount compared with many other cities and systems, said Prof Cervero.

    In contrast, during the public inquiry in May 2012 into the major train breakdowns occurred in Dec 2011, previous CEO Saw Phaik Hwa became defensive when the COI questioned her about SMRT maintenance budgets.

    AGC presented data showing SMRT did not raise its maintenance budgets in nearly 10 years since 2002, despite rising ridership, more frequent train runs and ageing assets. Ms Saw then stoutly defended the SMRT’s maintenance regime. She said SMRT had not only met, but exceeded, maintenance standards set out by rail manufacturers and the LTA. She claimed that money spent on mid-life upgrades for the trains had actually helped in saving maintenance cost.

    When it was pointed out to her that the upgrades were mainly for the train cabins and air-conditioning units, Saw then said parts such as wheels and propulsion systems are “upgraded continuously” and are “changed on a regular basis.”

    “If there is any need to upgrade, anything in the system, it would have been,” she added. Saw also blamed the new trains for the spike in train faults. The new trains were a source of bugs, she said. One of the COI panelists, Prof Lim of NTU, cited an SMRT internal report showing a 20% drop in maintenance cost per kilometer operated. Saw replied “that could be wrong numbers” or “errors in the parameters”.

    She said the events that triggered the train breakdowns on Dec 15 and 17, 2011 were unprecedented. The trains stopped because a section of the electrical ‘third rail’ had dropped off after several support claws were dislodged. No power was being supplied to the trains. She said that nothing like that had happened before. Prof Lim then pointed out that the ‘third rail’ did sag in 2010 and before 2006. Saw said management was not aware of the seriousness of the events because the dropped claws were reinstated. To that, Prof Lim retorted, “You knew the risks, and you didn’t do enough. You implemented cable ties.”

    High-tech tools to aid operations

    MTR also invests and employs a range of high-tech tools to aid operations.

    After the last trains depart from stations at about 1 a.m., more than 1,000 workers spring into action to maintain the system.

    “Because of the high demand for track space and the small amount of down time, we need to quickly move engineering trains, deliver materials and provide space for people,” said Mr Kam. “We have an A.I. system that helps us optimize the use of space in a limited time.”

    The A.I. program was specially designed and built for the MTR. “We also apply a lot of radio-frequency identification technology that helps monitor the condition of the trains and machinery and gives us an early warning in case of potential problems,” he explained.

    Infrared monitors on tracks are used to detect cracks too small for the human eye to detect.

    “We use man to do what machines can’t do, and machines to create efficiency and accuracy that’s beyond the reach of man,” said Mr Kam, summing up a principle that’s made Hong Kong’s MTR the envy of the world’s mass transit systems.

    In the case of Singapore, it sounds more like a case of “What’s wrong with collecting more money?”

    This is specially so on hearing what was revealed by the COI in 2012 that SMRT did not raise its maintenance budgets in nearly 10 years since 2002, despite rising ridership, more frequent train runs and ageing assets. In fact, COI reports showed that there was a 20% drop in maintenance cost per kilometer operated by SMRT.

    A former SMRT staff even told TRE that many of the experienced engineering staff were “forced to retire” under the pretext of reorganization during Saw Phaik Hwa’s time. Apparently, these experienced engineering staff were deemed too “expensive” and their salaries would eat into SMRT’s profits.

    He said, “I can tell that during Saw’s time many veteran ASP Trains were forced to retire under the pretext of Re-Org. Those officers with decades of rail experience were considered too costly. They hired younger and fresh diploma holders without rail experience but cheaper and with few benefits especially medical and leave benefits.”

    What caused SMRT to degenerate into a “money worshiper” at the expense of public service?

     

    Source: www.tremeritus.com

  • Zulfikar Shariff: Malays Need To Improve Self-Esteem, Be More Aware Of Discriminatory Policies

    Zulfikar Shariff: Malays Need To Improve Self-Esteem, Be More Aware Of Discriminatory Policies

    A couple of Malays, when informed that the PAP has historically discriminated against the community, tried to play it down by saying these policies are in the past. they further argue that we have to forget the past.

    This is the mistake some make when they discuss politics without understanding the institutional effects of policy formulation.

    When a policy is implemented, it does not simply affect its immediate time. Instead, these policies’ effects and implementation can be found far into the future.

    In institutional policy development, there is a concept known as path dependency. Path dependency refers to the behaviour of policy makers in the preferences of choices. When a specific choice is made at an earlier time, that same choice will be used as a template for future choices.

    The PAP’s policy of excluding Malays from the uniformed services is still in existence today. The values, views, ideologies, the very template that gave validity to those policies are still part of the PAP today.

    That it has changed slightly does not mean the reason the policy was crafted has changed.

    The discriminatory policies, apart from showing how Malays are not valued by the PAP, also reveals a careless attitude to policies that affect the Malay community. They did not care or consider the effects the policy would have on the Malays.

    The policy resulted in thousands of Malay youths being unemployed and unable to be educated between 1967 to 1977 (and it extends in some form until 1984).

    No provisions were made. No alternative pathways were given. These youths did not even get the recognition of being informed they would not be enlisted.

    It shows a government that did not care about what happened to Malay youths.

    The effects of this policy devastated the community. Prior to the exclusion of Malays, we found social and economic mobility in the uniformed services.

    Yet the PAP shut down this avenue. They did not renew the contracts of Malays in these services and new applicants were rejected.

    This depressed the community’s economy. They lost their economic stability. An economically depressed community places stress on its own institutions and potential.

    Marriages were affected because of unemployment and financial difficulties. Because Malays generally could not find proper employment or be educated until they were in their late 20s, many were married before they gained financial stability.

    And the financial stress affected these families.

    Opportunities to attend institutions of higher education became narrowed. Families either could not afford fees, extra lessons required or needed these students to find employment because of the family’s financial distress.

    I know of a lot of Malays who had to leave school because their families needed them to work.

    To assume that the PAP’s exclusion of Malay youths only affected the thousands of males during that period is to disregard the damage it caused to the community as a whole.

    We are products of this policy. The Malay community is still getting out of the effects of PAP’s racism. While other communities have been able to afford excellent tuition the last couple of decades, most Malay families are just getting to that level of ability.

    The forced financial distress caused by the PAP’s policies did not just affect those who were excluded in the 70s.

    The racist policies still affects us now.

    If we want to get out of this mess, we should recognise how the government behaves, what the institutional preferences are, what conditions are in place.

    Yes, there are a lot of things we need to work on to strengthen our community.

    And one of the things we need to improve is our self esteem.

    We are better than what we have been accused of.

    Yes some issues are due to our mistakes.

    A lot are not.

    We are a cultured, intelligent and dignified community.

    Do not allow anyone to abuse us.

    Never again.

    We are strong.

    We are Malays.

     

    Source: Zulfikar Shariff

  • Lui Tuck Yew Takes On 2nd Portfolio As Second Minister For Defence

    Lui Tuck Yew Takes On 2nd Portfolio As Second Minister For Defence

    Transport Minister Lui Tuck Yew takes on a second portfolio today, replacing Mr Chan Chun Sing as the Second Minister for Defence.

    His new appointment was announced yesterday as part of the latest round of Cabinet changes.

    Commenting on it yesterday in a Facebook post, the former chief of Singapore’s Navy said he looked forward to renewing his interactions with the Defence Ministry.

    “Will do my best to contribute to both transport and defence portfolios. But you can be sure that I will still continue to pay particular attention to matters related to public transport,” he added.

    Mr Lui’s links with the military go back to the 1980s, when he joined the Navy as a Singapore Armed Forces scholarship holder.

    He rose to become Chief of Navy in 1999 and served in the position until he left in 2003 to join the Maritime and Port Authority and later the Housing Board as chief executive.

    Mr Alex Yam, deputy chairman of the Government Parliamentary Committee for Defence and Foreign Affairs, said that with Mr Lui’s experience, he would be “well-attuned to the requirements of service and is also known to many of the men serving in the Singapore Armed Forces as well as the other services”.

    Mr Lui entered politics in 2006 and has since held posts in the Education and Foreign Affairs ministries as well as the former Ministry of Information, Communications and the Arts. He became Transport Minister in May 2011.

    Mr Chan will be the new secretary-general of the National Trades Union Congress and a Minister in the Prime Minister’s Office.

     

    Source: www.straitstimes.com

deneme bonusu