FAQs

The state of an estate is the outcome of collective efforts by residents and their Town Councils. It is therefore crucial that residents work together with their Town Councils to achieve the living environment that they desire.

To strengthen this partnership between residents and Town Councils, the TCMR reports key indicators about the state and management of individual estates. The report will serve as an additional basis for informed discussion between residents and their Town Councils about how they can work hand-in-hand to improve their living environment.

The work of Town Councils is very varied. It is not possible to monitor every function of Town Councils. For a start, the TCMR focuses on the “bread and butter” functions of Town Councils such as lift performance, S&CC arrears management and estate maintenance. The indicators used are:

ARD refers to the Automatic Rescue Device that brings the lift car to the nearest landing level during a power failure. In high-rise living, where lifts are an essential facility for our daily convenience, ARD is an important mechanism to enhance public safety. Thus, it is important to ensure that lift performance in this aspect is well-maintained.

The S&CC Arrears Management by Households indicator provides an indication of the proportion of households in a town with S&CC overdue, regardless of the amount owed by each household.

On the other hand, the S&CC Arrears Management by Amount indicator looks at the proportion of S&CC monthly receivable for the town that is in arrears, regardless of number of households owing S&CC arrears.

Measuring both indicators will give a better picture of the S&CC arrears situation in a town.

A number of factors were considered in arriving at the two indicators for S&CC arrears owed. First, residents may unintentionally forget to pay S&CC for one or two months. Second, time is also needed for the Town Council to recover late payments from households that are in S&CC arrears. 

In addition, as the Government currently disburses S&CC rebates regularly to eligible households; the S&CC arrears owed for more than one month tends to fluctuate, depending on when rebates are given out. Therefore, S&CC arrears owed for three months and above would be more reflective of Town Councils’ longer term S&CC arrears situation.

First, HDB adopts the following guidelines in planning the inspections for all towns:

• The inspections should cover all eligible HDB blocks managed and maintained by a Town Council at least once annually (ie. excluding blocks undergoing repairs & redecoration (R&R) and/or other upgrading programmes).
  
  
• The inspections should be spread out so that every Town Council will have blocks inspected every month.
  
  
• The inspections should be carried out on weekdays (except public holidays) after 10am to provide a window for Town Councils to carry out cleaning and maintenance prior to the inspection
  

Secondly, for each inspection, HDB has drawn up a set of standards and checklist to guide officers in recording the observations. HDB also equips its officers with cameras and PDAs (or other portable devices) to record and substantiate the inspection observations. Upon completion of inspections, the observations recorded will be forwarded to the respective Town Councils for their follow-up.

Besides providing inspection standards and recording equipment, HDB has the following measures in place to ensure objectivity for each inspection:

• informs HDB officers of the ward to be inspected only on the day of the inspection
  
  
• rotates HDB officers to different Town Councils to minimise individual subjectivity
  
  
• pairs Team Leaders with officers, at random, on joint inspections to ensure consistency in application of standard checklist and inspection standards
  
  
• invites Town Council staff for joint inspections
  
  
• has set up an appeal process, whereby Town Councils can appeal against observations they feel should not be included

HDB also intends to seek ISO certification to ensure consistency in application of procedures for the inspection processes

The current TCMR covers the period from Oct 2010 to Mar 2011. The results are thus based on town boundaries before the General Election. Going forward, MND plans to review the TCMR framework and MOS Lee will lead a public consultation exercise to seek the views of residents and town councils.

Despite some changes in town boundaries following the General Election, most Towns remained largely the same. The third TCMR could thus still serve as a useful reference for both the residents and the Town Councils to discuss the desired level of upkeep of their Town.

Regardless of which political party is in charge of the Town Council, Town Councils and residents can use the TCMR as a basis to discuss how to improve the upkeep of their towns over time.