In a lopsided survey conducted by the Ministry of National Development (MND), the government claimed that there is no lift maintenance issues for PAP town councils despite numerous high profile lift incidents in recent years. In 2015, an elderly woman’s hand was severed due to a malfunctioning lift sensor. In the same year, an elderly died after he tripped over an uneven lift landing.
Just 2 months ago in Sep, a faulty Jurong West lift was shut down for more than 3 months but Jurong-Clementi Town Council gets a good rating from the MND report. Also in the same area July this year, the same town council saw a lift incident where a lift carriage plunged 4 levels. In June, a lift ceiling collapsed in Pasir Ris injuring an elderly and a child.
Photo from MND
The MND report listed the opposition Workers’ Party town council, Aljunied Hougang, as “worst” for corporate governance, claiming that the WP did not make regular payment to the sinking fund. However, WP was unable to meet the payment dates because the MND refused to hand out town council estate management grants. The corrupted MND also did not assist the town council after a PAP-linked software company pulled out it’s support for the council, landing the WP in an accounting mess.
Despite the trip-ups by the MND, the WP town council managed by without increasing SnCC collections, unlike their PAP counterparts. There is also no lift incident resulting in serious injuries like as in the PAP town council.