Committee of Supply – Head T (Ministry of National Development)

[Deputy Speaker (Mr Charles Chong ) in the Chair]

Thank you for the extension. We believe that the TCMR framework has strengthened accountability. With information in TCMR, residents can then work with their Town Councils to determine the priorities for the town and improve its upkeep.

While we give the local Members of Parliament and town councillors autonomy, we do at the same time need to establish a larger legal framework

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to provide guidance and clarity to facilitate the autonomous operations of the Town Councils. The rules and regulations under the Town Councils Act and Town Councils Financial Rules are put in place for this. MND has set up a team to review Town Councils' operations. In this review, we will re-examine the fundamental nature of Town Councils, including the standards of corporate governance that should apply to them to best serve the interests of the public. We note Ms Sylvia Lim's suggestions on the definition of common areas and we will take her input into consideration.

Er Dr Lee Bee Wah asked if there could be more grants for Town Councils to help them cope with rising costs. We expect Town Councils to fund their operations through the Service and Conservancy Charges (S&CC) they collect from residents. This is in line with the Town Councils' operational and financial autonomy. Town Councils have the authority to set their priorities and determine their programmes in discussion with their residents. They thus also have the flexibility to set S&CC charges to fund them. Periodically, they would also need to revise their S&CC to meet higher resident expectations, improve service and keep pace with rising cost.

To help Town Councils offset part of their cost, MND provides an annual operating grant of about $90 million a year, and this accounts for 15% of the Town Council's annual budget. Besides the annual operating grant, the Government also provides S&CC rebates directly to residents, from time to time, to help them with rising cost. We are giving $77 million in this Budget under the S&CC rebate scheme.

Mr Png Eng Huat asked specifically about grants for the maintenance costs of lifts. On this point, I would like to stress that, when carrying out LUP, HDB has been prudent in the number of lifts added as this impacts on both the upfront cost of LUP as well as subsequent maintenance cost to be borne by the Town Councils and eventually the residents. And this is why we also go through a polling process to ensure that residents are aware of the decisions they are going to make. So, to help Town Councils with their co-payment of the initial cost, $130 million of LUP Assistance was disbursed in 2010. Towns that required more extensive lift upgrading received more grants.

Still on community involvement, we also think of other ways to encourage residents' contributions in terms of ideas and suggestions. I launched the "Cool Ideas for Better HDB Living" Competition in 2011 to source for ideas from the community. We received more than 100 suggestions in a series of competitions from students, housewives, working adults, retirees and SMEs. The Cool Ideas platform also serves as a good avenue for greater community interactions.

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Encouraged by this positive response, we will roll out Cool Ideas in other precincts this year.

To engage the community in the planning and design of its precincts, HDB also conducts surveys and focus group discussions among residents. They gave feedback on usage patterns of the communal facilities, satisfaction levels, interaction patterns and suggestions for improvements. Recently, HDB also piloted "Building Our Neighbourhood's Dreams" (BOND!) in Bukit Panjang. HDB invited residents to co-design their community facilities under the Neighbourhood Renewal Programme. HDB observed that residents were happy to be part of the process and to "own a piece of the community".

Chairman, HDB builds flats; people own them and make them home. HDB builds towns; people give them life and make them communities. Just as we will involve the people more in designing housing policies, we will also work with the people more to co-create HDB towns and build vibrant and active communities.