Amy Khor Lean Suan
Singapore
“Sir, NEA does conduct inspections of these premises from time to time. For this particular premises, they actually did six inspections since 2021.”
“The Land Transport Authority (LTA) conducts enforcement actions against drivers who are found to have provided illegal car-pooling services. An individual who provides an illegal car-pooling service may face a fine of up to $3,000, up to six months' imprisonment, or both.”
“We will also provide the first 500 private heavy vehicle chargers co-funding of up to 50% of the charger installation cost, capped at $30,000 per charger. These measures will narrow the lifecycle cost gap between an electric and internal combustion engine heavy vehicle and spur adoption of electric heavy vehicles.”
“With regard to the extension of the lower speed limit to school zones for full day, we will work with the relevant agencies on the enhanced enforcements.”
“They will provide a certain amount of protection to the pedestrians because, as I have said, the bollards will absorb the impact of the collision from the vehicles. So, there is a protection. But ultimately, of course, road safety really depends on a multitude of factors, including road user behaviour.”
“The bollards installed at pedestrian crossings by the Land Transport Authority (LTA) are not of the K4, K8 or K12 standards stated by the Member. Bollards of these standards are typically security bollards. They are installed to protect critical infrastructure or at high security areas, such as Changi Airport, to be unyielding.”
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“I want to thank the Member for her supplementary questions. As she has noted, currently, we only allow carpooling services if it is through a licensed carpooling operator or through a permitted licence-exempt operator, which is one that has got a fleet of less than 800 cars. These operators are able to record the driver as well as the trip, check on the validity of the driver's licence and also enforce on the maximum two trips per day requirement. This really is to protect the commuters or passengers' safety, provide the commuter with some safeguards. Carpooling services acquired through informal channels like Telegram, SGHitch that are non-business entities are not allowed. They are banned. There is some value in providing or allowing some of these carpooling services. Because it optimises vehicle road capacity, the use of the vehicle, as well as, of course, reduce carbon footprint. Totally banning carpooling services will not necessarily remove the problem. In fact, it may exacerbate the problem. If you look at the informal channels, as the Member has rightly pointed out, there is demand. So, when there is demand, there is supply. And therefore I agree with the Member that besides enforcement actions through enforcement operations that we will continue to do, it is good to intensify our public education efforts to raise awareness among the public that their safety is not protected if they go through these informal channels, and that if they require such carpooling services, they should do it through the licensed or licence-exempt permitted operators. We will work with the associations to look at such a campaign.”
“The Land Transport Authority (LTA) conducts enforcement actions against drivers who are found to have provided illegal car-pooling services. An individual who provides an illegal car-pooling service may face a fine of up to $3,000, up to six months' imprisonment, or both. Those who provide an illegal car-pool matching service may face a fine of up to $10,000, up to six months' imprisonment, or both. Members of the public who come across individuals providing illegal car-pooling services may write to LTA or notify LTA through the OneMotoring portal. For safety, we strongly encourage commuters who wish to book point-to-point transport (P2P) services, including commercial car-pooling, to do so via licensed business platforms. I want to thank the Member for her suggestion for a campaign to improve public awareness of the allowable forms of car-pooling. LTA will work with the taxi and private hire vehicle drivers' associations on this.”
“Sir, NEA does conduct inspections of these premises from time to time. For this particular premises, they actually did six inspections since 2021. They also regularly send out advisories to these waste recycling facilities to remind them of the need to be cognisant of fire safety risk, to continuously review their fire safety measures to make sure that they are relevant and adequate. NEA works together with SCDF. SCDF itself also conducts scheduled and regular inspections of these premises. And I understand that SCDF also conducted 10 inspections between 2018 and 2024 for this premises. Where there are non-compliance, these would be issued out. So, for this premises, I think they issued four Fire Hazard Abatement Notices, which is actually a warning to ask them to rectify some non-compliance issues like obstruction of fire exit door or fire extinguisher or faulty fire exit sign. There were three Notices of Offence. Again, this is for non-compliance, for instance, if there is unauthorised fire safety construction. But all these were actually rectified.”
“So, I think it is not really sensible to tie it to a specific technology.”
“As I have noted in my reply and as the learned Assoc Prof has also said, definitely the validity period of the COE is not tied to the lifespan of the vehicle. When we implemented this, we put a validity period of 10 years. Actually, as I have said, it is really for greater equity, so that motorist do not own a car in perpetuity at the expense of future car owners. So, this 10-year period really is a good balance between certainty for existing owners and a good chance, a chance for somebody who may wish to purchase a car. And it also happens to tie-in with the time limit for the PARF benefits, which is actually, to encourage vehicle fleet renewal in Singapore, is still relevant. And as I have said, we have been using this validity period, monitoring. It has worked well. We will continue to, as we have done, take in feedback from stakeholders, interested parties and monitor the appropriateness of this validity period. But having said that, even the two system – 10-year and five-year – the five-year was a concession for owners whose COE was expiring. They did not think that the cars would last for more than five years and we gave a concession for the five-year renewal. But that is only one time. If they renew for five years, they will not be able to renew again. So, the system has not really got multiple COE validity periods. And as I have said, actually, we are technology agnostic, too, in the sense that technology evolves. We want cleaner energy vehicles, but it does not have to be EV, although at this point in time, EV is the most viable. But technology changes, evolves. In fact, I checked ChatGPT too, lifespan of EV batteries is 10 to 20 years. Warranty, eight years, but some companies are already giving 10 years.”
“With regard to the extension of the lower speed limit to school zones for full day, we will work with the relevant agencies on the enhanced enforcements. In addition, there will be clear signages and so on to let motorists know that the lower speed limit is for the full day, as well as, of course, work with the various stakeholders like the schools and the residents in the area.”
“We will also provide the first 500 private heavy vehicle chargers co-funding of up to 50% of the charger installation cost, capped at $30,000 per charger. These measures will narrow the lifecycle cost gap between an electric and internal combustion engine heavy vehicle and spur adoption of electric heavy vehicles. 4.30 pm Chairman, in conclusion, we will press on to create friendlier and safer journeys for all, while strengthening the connectivity of our land transport system.”
“To Assoc Prof Jamus Lim’s suggestion to change the COE duration for EVs, I should highlight that the current 10-year duration is not based on the lifespan of vehicles. We implemented a 10-year duration as part of our vehicle quota system for greater equity, so that motorists do not own a car in perpetuity at the expense of future prospective owners. Should vehicle owners, including EV owners, decide to deregister their vehicles at any point, they will be able to get a refund of the unused portion of the COE, as well as Preferential Additional Registration Fee (PARF) rebates. Having different COE validity periods across powertrains will make the COE system unnecessarily complex. Vehicle technologies will continue to change. So, it is not sensible to tie our COE validity periods to specific technologies, let alone the uncertainty of lifespans of EV batteries, as Assoc Prof Lim has noted. We must also not forget that after 2020, hybrids will still be allowed. As raised by Ms Poh Li San, Mr Ang Wei Neng and Mr Neil Parekh, for heavy vehicles, the market for cleaner energy variants is nascent but we are seeing encouraging market developments. Particularly, for some segments of lorries and buses, there are commercially-ready electric models today. This is an area where we can do more to catalyse adoption in the next bound of land transport decarbonisation. We will help companies adopt cleaner energy heavy vehicles. As announced by the Minister for Finance at Budget 2025, we will introduce the Heavy Vehicle Zero Emissions Scheme and an Electric Heavy Vehicle Charger Grant. Starting from 1 January 2026, we will provide $40,000 in incentives for each new zero-tailpipe emission heavy vehicle registered.”
“We have made good progress and will ensure all HDB residents who own or wish to own an EV have convenient access to a charger near their homes. Deploying the chargers has not been straightforward, as most public car parks were not designed to accommodate EV chargers and allow for a significant draw on electricity. Hence, there are some car parks where the existing electrical infrastructure, like the consumer switch rooms, lack the capacity to support the deployment of EV chargers. For such car parks, we are leveraging technology, such as dynamic load management, to help us optimise existing electricity capacity. This will allow us to install EV chargers to meet the needs of EV owners, even as we work on upgrading the electrical infrastructure. Last year, we shared that we will be increasing the number of fast chargers to meet the needs of commercial vehicle owners, including taxi drivers. We have kickstarted the deployment of fast chargers. By the end of this month, 13 HDB shopping complexes and town centres would be equipped with two 50 kilowatt EV chargers each, including at Woodlands Civic Centre and Connection One. More will be progressively deployed over the year at 45 other sites, including Serangoon and Bedok Town Centres, and JTC industrial premises, such as Bulim Square. At condominiums, around one in three are equipped with chargers today, in part supported by LTA's EV Common Charger Grant (ECCG), which has since co-funded about 1,700 chargers. To further encourage charger deployment at condominiums, we will expand the ECCG to co-fund an additional 1,500 chargers on top of the original 2,000, but subject to a cap of $3,000 per charger, and extend the grant duration to 31 December 2026.”
“Hence, beyond ensuring a stable supply of taxis, we intend to work with ride-hail operators to make their apps more user-friendly for groups, such as seniors, who are less comfortable with using mobile apps. We will invite operators to submit proposals that can improve the accessibility of their P2P services. LTA will provide co-funding of up to 50%, capped at $500,000 for the development of viable ideas via the P2P Inclusivity Co-funding Grant. We plan to allow applications from the fourth quarter of 2025 and for support to be provided up to 2028. Additionally, as raised by Mr Eric Chua and in response to requests from PHC drivers and commuters, we will, for a start, convert nine most frequently used taxi stops in the Central Business District to P2P stops for use as pick-up and drop-off points by both taxis and PHCs. We will monitor the impact on road traffic and usage of the converted taxi stops before deciding if this could be expanded to other taxi stops. But taxi stands, where taxis can queue to pick up street-hail commuters, will continue to be for taxis only. This move will make P2P services safer and more convenient for all commuters. Moving on, Mr Neil Parekh asked for an update on the EV landscape. The adoption of EVs has been healthy. In 2024, about a third of all new cars registered were electric, up from 18% in 2023. The momentum has continued into this year, with the adoption rate increasing to 38% in January. Our charging network has continued to expand to support the growing EV population. We have more than 19,000 charging points island-wide, close to half of which are publicly accessible. More than 60% of HDB car parks are equipped with EV chargers.”
“What LTA will do is to continue increasing the COE quota every quarter for Cat A, B and C till the supply peak from 2026, by using the cut-and-fill method and the injection of 20,000 new COE quota. As Mr Saktiandi Supaat noted, another key objective of our P2P regulatory regime is to keep the sector open and contestable. This allows commuters and drivers to choose their preferred platform. Competition also encourages operators to innovate and improve service offerings. As of today, around 60% of drivers use multiple platforms. While the ride-hail sector is a competitive market, it is also a matching market, and large operators will naturally be better able to match their drivers and commuters. Large operators should, therefore, bear greater responsibility to ensure that market norms continue to protect the interests of commuters and drivers. These additional responsibilities include higher data disclosure obligations to LTA as regulator, and could include sharing more data with drivers, as Ms Jean See has suggested. The additional responsibilities sit on top of our broader regulations to promote multi-homing. They are not meant to curb the growth of any operator, whether in Singapore or overseas markets. These responsibilities are to assure drivers and commuters that large operators will not implement practices that may directly or indirectly restrict drivers’ or commuters’ choice, such as imposing minimum trip requirements on drivers. We will adopt an iterative approach by reviewing the requirements as operators continue to evolve their practices in response to market competition. Mr Gan Thiam Poh raised the importance of P2P services for different groups of commuters. Indeed, as our population ages, we expect more commuters to rely on P2P services.”
“Finally, with immediate effect, we will also require the disclosure of a vehicle’s history as a chauffeured or self-drive PHC, or taxi for all newly registered, converted or transferred vehicles. This will apply to vehicles registered using COEs issued as part of today’s COE bidding exercise. The move will improve transparency in the resale market and further encourage registration of such vehicles only for their intended purposes. Beyond these moves, Mr Lim Biow Chuan asked whether we intend to create a separate COE category for business-owned PHCs. We have studied this carefully and decided not to proceed with such a move. First, as I had mentioned in this House, the bulk of the demand for Category A and B (Cat A and B) COEs has been from local individuals and not from PHC or car leasing companies. In the most recent bidding in February 2025, business-owned PHCs made up 6% and 8% of successful Cat A and B bids respectively. Second, quota from existing categories, such as Cat A and B, will need to be taken away to provide the quota for this new separate category. We have seen that demand for PHCs varies from quarter to quarter, given that fares and driver supply are highly responsive to commuter demand. It is very difficult to accurately determine the COE quota supply for PHCs that is required to meet the needs of drivers and commuters. If we move too much quota away, Cat A and B COE prices will spike because of inadequate remaining quota. Conversely, if we move too little, COE prices for PHCs will be high, with drivers and commuters facing higher rentals and fares. Therefore, the allocation between PHCs and private cars is best left to the market.”
“First, we will continue to suspend the growth cap on the taxi fleet. We first suspended the cap in 2021 to help taxi operators replenish their fleet to pre-pandemic numbers. This extended suspension will facilitate the replacement and growth of the taxi fleet. Second, we will allow taxi operators to convert used vehicles that are less than five years old to taxis. Instead of just buying new vehicles, taxi operators will have an additional option to grow their fleet, which may help to reduce costs. Third, we will allow taxi operators to resell taxis that are more than three years old, capped at 5% of their fleet annually. This will give taxi operators flexibility to resell under-utilised taxis and reduce carrying costs. This added flexibility can also reduce operators’ risks when trialling new taxi models, such as bigger, more expensive multipurpose vehicles which can better serve larger families. These moves give taxi operators more flexibility to manage cost and grow their fleet. They complement our moves in the PHC sector to further level the playing field between taxis and PHCs. We announced earlier on 19 February that all newly registered, converted or transferred chauffeured PHCs owned by businesses cannot be converted to other vehicle classifications for three years. The main reason for this move is to narrow the regulatory gap between taxis and PHCs. It also helps to stabilise the PHC supply. The three-year holding period for business-owned chauffeured PHCs parallels our requirement that taxi operators maintain their taxis for at least three years before they can be resold. [Mr Speaker in the Chair] We expect the impact of the measure to be manageable as the majority of bona fide PHC leasing companies already keep their vehicles for more than three years.”
“To enhance the commuting experience, we will pedestrianise a 50-metre-long stretch of Tampines Central 5, where commuters can look forward to a seamless walking path between the transport facilities and malls. 4.15 pm In Bedok, in collaboration with adviser Cheryl Chan, we will pedestrianise a 90-metre-long stretch of Bedok North Street 4 and close an adjacent HDB car park to create a new community space for residents to come together, and a more comfortable walking experience to and from Bedok 85 Market and Fengshan neighbourhood centre. Separately, also in Bedok, Mr Faisal Abdul Manap would be pleased to know that as part of HDB’s upcoming Bedok North Springs BTO, HDB plans to build a high covered linkway across Bedok North Street 3 to Block 509. Next, Ms Yeo Wan Ling asked for an update on the point-to-point (P2P) transport industry review. Since PHCs entered the sector in 2013, commuters have benefited from a more responsive P2P supply. Even so, taxis remain important for meeting P2P demand. First, as dedicated P2P vehicles, taxis provide a more stable source of supply throughout the day compared to PHCs. One-shift taxis spend a median of 49 active hours per week serving P2P trips, compared to 34 by PHCs. Second, taxis can offer street-hail services, which remain important for commuters who may be less familiar with local ride-hail apps, and at locations with very high demand. At last year’s COS debate, we converged some regulations between PHCs and taxis to make taxis more viable, as they incur higher operating costs due to existing regulatory differences. However, as Mr Ang Wei Neng pointed out, there are still some gaps. This year, we will introduce further changes to the regulatory regime for taxis and PHCs.”
“These enhanced penalties will then be on par with offences committed at Silver and School Zones. We will also extend the lower speed limits for Enhanced School Zones along Primary Schools to full day, instead of only during school arrival and dismissal times. We made this change because school schedules are increasingly more varied and extends beyond the conventional dismissal times. Mr Melvin Yong asked agencies to step up enforcement against companies which do not properly secure equipment on board lorries. Agencies will continue to take firm action to enforce this requirement under the Road Traffic Act. It is the responsibility of companies to comply for the safety of their workers and other road users. In tandem with Friendly Streets, we are pressing on with our road repurposing projects, with six completed thus far. We had previously shared that we were working to enhance the walking and cycling experience in Tanjong Pagar. I am pleased to announce that after engaging stakeholders in the area, we will repurpose the roadside parking lots along Tanjong Pagar Road to provide wider footpaths and cycling paths. Centre dividers and road humps will be added to slow down vehicles. These enhancements will bring about a safer and more comfortable walking and cycling experience between Tanjong Pagar and Maxwell MRT stations. We will also embark on two new road repurposing projects at Tampines and Bedok. In Tampines, we observed very high footfall across Tampines Central 5, where around 60,000 pedestrians a day travel between Tampines MRT station and the malls in Tampines.”
“Chairman, let me share how we will create more friendly and safe journeys, strengthen connectivity in our land transport system and enable businesses to decarbonise their vehicle fleet for a more liveable and sustainable city. At last year’s COS debate, I announced that Friendly Streets would be expanded to all towns by 2030. We have since completed works for the five Friendly Streets pilots. We have also completed engagements and progressively started infrastructure works for the 10 Friendly Streets sites announced last year. These are expected to be completed by 2026. This year, we will be launching Friendly Streets at 15 more locations island-wide, including in Bukit Timah, Jurong West, Opera Estate, Queenstown, Thomson and Yishun. These locations have a higher proportion of seniors or young families living in public and private housing estates who will benefit most from the scheme. We will continue to identify more areas suitable to implement Friendly Streets, possibly Seletar Hills estate, as suggested by Ms Ng Ling Ling. One of the key features of all Friendly Streets is the emphasis on pedestrian safety, as highlighted by Mr Shawn Huang. That is why Friendly Streets have road humps and narrower road lanes to slow down speeds. Speed limits are also lowered to 40 kilometres per hour. To further enhance pedestrian safety, we will roll out the following initiatives from 1 January 2026. Motorists who commit traffic offences that endanger others, such as speeding, running of red light or failing to give way to pedestrians at Friendly Streets, will incur two additional demerit points on top of the prevailing demerit points, and an additional $100 in composition sum on top of the prevailing penalties for the offence.”
“But regardless, the reality is that water is easily accessible from various drinking points.”
“I must say that I am glad that Mr Louis Ng has got a fresh perspective from my colleague. But with regard to Mr Gerald Giam's question, as I have said, tap water is safe for drinking in Singapore. I think PUB has reiterated many times and we do have lots of water dispenser, water points, water cooler at the hawker centres, at regional parks, at the bus terminals and interchanges. In fact, BCA's Green Mark scheme actually awards points to developers or building owners who provide water coolers or water points within their premises, within their building, whether it is in a common area near the toilets and so on. And even BCA, the Health Promotion Board had a Green Mark for healthier workplaces, also awards points to office premises which put water points within the offices. So, drinking water is very accessible. You just need to bring your reusable, which we have been promoting through our "Say YES to Waste Less" campaign, for many many years, and then you can actually fill up and get your water. With regard to the F&B outlets, we do not have any plans to go and require them to provide free drinking water, for instance, or at low cost. I think it is up to the F&B businesses to decide how to charge and so on. There is a lot of competition, so they will take that into account. The other thing is, actually, water is a valuable resource and even though water can be taken freely from the tap, it is not free, because the F&B owners have to pay for the water. And there is a cost to serving the water, the table water, as well as to wash the glasses and so on that it is served in. So, we will need to allow them to decide how they are going to provide the service to their customers and whether they will charge or not.”
“The new Kranji Water Reclamation Plant and Kranji NEWater factory are targeted to be completed by the mid-2030s. The Changi Water Reclamation Plant will also be expanded by the mid-2030s, and the construction of the third Changi NEWater factory is targeted to be completed in the next three years. The three-node used water management system at Changi, Tuas and Kranji will play a critical role in helping to meet Singapore’s long-term needs. Every drop of used water will be collected, treated and purified in an endless cycle, so that we make the best use of our limited resource. Indeed, let this be our calling: zero waste. Chairman, in conclusion, our sustainability requires collective effort. Advancing green initiatives, improving energy efficiency and promoting resource resilience will put us on track to achieve our climate ambitions.”
“Water dispensers are also readily available at hawker centres and in common areas, such as parks, bus interchanges and terminals, where one can simply fill up with a reusable which we have been promoting. As we press on towards a sustainable and circular economy, we must also continue to strengthen our water resilience. Most Members would be familiar with our water supply infrastructure, like our desalination plants, reservoirs and waterways. Fewer might be familiar with the essential role that our used water infrastructure plays in supporting our water supply needs. Our water demand is about 440 million gallons a day today and is expected to almost double by 2065. With rising water demand, more used water will be generated. So, in tandem, we have to expand our used water conveyance and treatment capacity. To address the need for more used water conveyance capacity, PUB has been expanding the Deep Tunnel Sewerage System (DTSS). The DTSS is an underground superhighway that will convey used water by gravity to three centralised water reclamation plants located at Changi, Tuas and Kranji. The first phase of the DTSS (DTSS 1) was completed in 2008 and serves the northern and eastern regions of Singapore. The second phase of the DTSS (DTSS 2), which is under construction, will serve the western region of Singapore and will be operational by 2027. When completed, the DTSS will free up 150 hectares of land for other purposes by phasing out intermediate pumping stations and conventional water reclamation plants. In tandem, we have integrated our used water treatment and NEWater production and are expanding their capacities. Tuas Water Reclamation Plant and Tuas NEWater factories are on track to be completed in phases from 2027.”
“MPR seeks to raise companies’ awareness of the packaging waste that they generate and spur them to take concrete steps to reduce it. Companies have taken heed of this call to action. In 2024, NEA supported the launch of an Alliance for Action (AfA) on Packaging Waste Reduction for the e-commerce sector. Led by Singapore Manufacturing Federation and Singapore Post, the AfA comprised 14 members across the e-commerce supply chain. The AfA estimates that, in Singapore, about 186,000 parcels were delivered per day in 2023, generating as much as 15,900 tonnes of mailing packaging in that year alone. Given the continued growth of this sector, I am pleased to announce that the AfA has developed the Guidelines on Sustainable E-commerce Packaging to guide companies on sustainable packaging practices. The Guidelines provide a comprehensive list of 3R solutions for common packaging types, such as cardboard boxes, mailers and fillers. These solutions are rated based on effort required, cost and environmental impact. Companies can adopt solutions that best suit their needs to achieve cost savings and minimise environmental impact. For example, Watsons Singapore reduced its use of bubble wrap by repurposing shredded used cardboard boxes as filler material, saving up to 10% in overall packaging procurement costs. Another example is Sealed Air, who found that with more direct deliveries, the amount of material used in its plastic and paper mailers could be reduced by 30% to 50%. We hope that more e-commerce businesses will make good use of these guidelines, which can be downloaded from the Packaging Partnership Programme website. On Mr Gerald Giam’s suggestion to provide free or low-cost drinking water to reduce plastic waste, tap water in Singapore is safe for drinking.”
“Our overall recycling rate remained largely steady at around 60% between 2013 and 2019. There was a sharp decline during the COVID-19 period and was at 52% in 2023. The recent decline in recycling rate is largely driven by structural factors, such as transport costs, market volatility for recyclables like paper, and foreign government restrictions on the trade in recyclables. These are challenges we must contend with as we work towards closing our resource loop. We will study how we can work together with and support the recycling industry to increase the recycling rate of our key waste streams. One key measure to reduce waste generation and improve recycling is Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR), which helps to aggregate clean streams of recyclables. An upcoming EPR scheme is the beverage container return scheme. NEA has issued the producer responsibility scheme operator licence to BCRS Ltd, a not-for-profit company formed by a consortium of beverage producers comprising Coca-Cola, F&N Foods and Pokka. The scheme will commence in April 2026. Steady progress is being made to this end. BCRS Ltd has called for proposals for the scheme’s IT system, counting and sorting system and the return point network. They have also appointed two small producer representatives to their board of directors to represent smaller producers. BCRS Ltd will set up more than 1,000 conveniently placed return points to facilitate our recycling journey. Alongside EPR schemes, companies are also required to submit plans to reduce packaging use, promote reusables and facilitate collection of packaging for reuse or recycling as part of their Mandatory Packaging Reporting (MPR) submissions.”
“This translates to annual energy savings that can power 19,000 4-rooms HDB flats and annual water savings equivalent to 900 Olympic-sized swimming pools, or about $31 million in annual utility savings. To encourage greater involvement in climate action, the Minister for Finance announced in his Budget Statement that the Government will provide an additional $100 of Climate Vouchers to eligible households, on top of the existing $300. We will also expand the enhanced CFHP to include Singapore Citizen households living in private residential properties. This means that each eligible household will, in total, receive $400 of Climate Vouchers. The expansion will benefit around 250,000 more households, on top of the 1.1 million HDB households that are already covered under the enhanced CFHP. These enhancements will be available from 15 April 2025. To support our heartland entrepreneurs, MSE has onboarded about 170 retailers, of which, 130 are heartland retailers. Climate Vouchers can be used at over 520 outlets to provide greater accessibility to households. Our net-zero targets necessitate the promotion of sustainable consumption and production practices. This requires us to reduce resource consumption, reuse where possible, before recycling. Dr Lim Wee Kiak and Mr Eric Chua asked how we can promote the 3Rs as a way of life. Ms Jean See asked for an update on our measures to manage key waste streams, including packaging waste. We have made significant strides in facilitating waste reduction. Our domestic waste generated per capita, and non-domestic waste generated per dollar GDP decreased by more than 15% and 30% respectively over the past decade. This indicates that households and businesses have taken positive steps to reduce, reuse and recycle.”
“To enhance energy efficiency of our industrial sector, which is Singapore’s largest energy-consuming sector, we amended the Energy Conservation Act last year to extend Minimum Energy Efficiency Standards (MEES) for chilled water systems to existing industrial facilities. From April 2026, we will raise the MEES for water-cooled chilled water systems dedicated for space cooling in new industrial facilities to BCA's standards for space cooling in new commercial buildings under the Code for Environmental Sustainability (ES) of Buildings Edition 4.0. This is to align energy efficiency standards across sectors, ease regulatory compliance for businesses and improve industrial energy efficiency. With the revised energy efficiency standards, each new industrial facility can expect annual energy savings of $63,000 and above over the 15-year lifespan of chilled water systems. The short payback period of 1.5 years also makes installing energy-efficient chilled water systems more cost-effective. Mr Gan Thiam Poh asked how we can support households amid rising utilities costs. The Climate Friendly Households Programme (CFHP) will help support households to improve resource efficiency. Last year, CFHP was enhanced to provide all HDB households in Singapore with $300 worth of Climate Vouchers for purchases from among 10 types of resource-efficient household products. As of 31 January 2025, around 80% of eligible HDB households, that is, around 850,000 households, have claimed their Climate Vouchers. Approximately $88 million of climate vouchers have been utilised. The top three household appliances purchased were direct current fans, refrigerators and washing machines.”
“We shared last year that we planned to expand our sustainability evaluation criteria for public sector meetings, incentives, conferences, and exhibitions (MICE) tenders. This will be implemented from FY2025 for Government procurement of events venues and events management services. Beyond introducing environmental sustainability evaluation criteria in tenders, we are also looking to drive green procurement in other categories, such as facility management, through incorporating broader environmental sustainability considerations. For example, JTC is working with agencies to explore incentive payments for facility management vendors who excel in energy and water efficiency in their managed assets. 4.15 pm Assoc Prof Razwana and Dr Lim Wee Kiak asked how the Government can support businesses in their efforts to reduce emissions and mitigate climate impacts. As Mr Gan Thiam Poh mentioned, helping businesses to improve their energy efficiency is key to lowering business costs and improving economic competitiveness. The Government has introduced support schemes, such as the Energy Efficiency Grant (EEG), to support businesses in improving energy efficiency by co-funding investments in energy-efficient equipment. We expanded the EEG in 2024 to cover more sectors, such as construction, manufacturing, maritime and data centres. Since introducing the EEG in September 2022, the Government has approved nearly 11,000 applications from over 4,000 businesses. This has resulted in positive cost savings and sustainability outcomes. For example, United E&P Pte Ltd, a manufacturing company, replaced their asphalt crusher with an energy-efficient model. This change saves about $48,000 of energy costs annually and reduces lifetime carbon emissions by 1,000 tonnes.”
“Eligible projects could include retrofits to energy consuming systems or installation of smart systems to optimise energy efficiency. Public sector facilities that could be covered include office premises, hospitals and MRT stations. An example of a worthwhile project would be Tan Tock Seng Hospital's mini-chiller heat recovery system. The system saves 800,000kWh of electricity, or $240,000 a year, by replacing energy-consuming electric heaters with heat generated from the mini chiller. The fund can facilitate the test-bedding of innovative and cost-effective solutions that could stimulate growth and help build industry capability in energy services for the built environment sector. Public sector leadership in this area could catalyse energy efficiency improvements in the larger stock of private sector buildings. Besides reducing emissions, another key strategy is to remove residual emissions. NEA is studying solutions to capture carbon emissions at our Waste-to-Energy (WtE) plants. A pilot project will be launched by 2026 to validate the carbon capture technologies, such as amine-based absorption for our WtE plants and to inform our next steps. We are also looking to leverage Government procurement to normalise green initiatives throughout our businesses. To this end, we announced last year that we would refine our environmental sustainability evaluation criteria for large construction and information and communications technology (ICT) hardware tenders. I am pleased to share that from FY2024, up to 5% of tender evaluation criteria have been set aside for environmental sustainability considerations. BCA and GovTech have shared the refined sustainability evaluation criteria with Government agencies for adoption in their tenders.”
“Chairman, recent events such as forest fires in California and heatwaves across Southeast Asia have shown that climate change demands decisive action for our sustainability. We will advance green initiatives, improve energy efficiency and promote resource resilience to progress towards our ambitious Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) to achieve net-zero by 2050. Assoc Prof Razwana Begum asked how MSE will promote sustainable practices and technologies across the public and private sectors. Let me share the Government's efforts to achieve our net-zero targets. The Government has committed to achieve net-zero emissions around 2045, five years ahead of our national target. We published the second edition of the GreenGov.SG report for FY2023, which incorporates waste data and contextualises the public sector's resource footprint. This allows us to develop targeted pathways to reduce and remove emissions. A key strategy to reduce emissions is to improve energy efficiency across different sectors of the economy. For the public sector, we have earlier announced plans to reduce our Energy Utilisation Index (EUI) by 10% by 2030 from FY2018 to FY2020 baseline. As of FY2023, we have achieved 3.7% EUI reduction and we will do more to reach our target. To bolster our efforts, the Government will, from this year, set aside around $300 million for an Energy Efficiency Fund for public sector buildings. The fund will invest in worthwhile projects over the next five years, to improve energy efficiency performance of public sector facilities. These projects will contribute toward our climate targets, payback through life-cycle cost-savings and generate excess savings for the Government in the long term.”
“They will provide a certain amount of protection to the pedestrians because, as I have said, the bollards will absorb the impact of the collision from the vehicles. So, there is a protection. But ultimately, of course, road safety really depends on a multitude of factors, including road user behaviour. So, we need to encourage all road users, whether it is drivers or pedestrians, to act cautiously and to take responsibility. Let me also say that these bollards, although there are no specific international standards that such bollards have to comply with, for LTA, when we design the bollards, we take into account the design parameters, we do take reference from European standards like EN1317, regarding the road restraint systems on the containment level. Of course, these are also built with the steel and concrete structure in compliance with various standards that are an adaptation of the European standards.”
“First, let me say that the bollards, the ones that are at the bus stops as well as the signalised junctions at pedestrian crossings are designed to do both. Firstly, as I have said earlier, the bollards are designed to absorb the impact from the vehicle if the vehicle were to encroach into the pedestrian waiting area, for instance. That is to protect pedestrians waiting at the crossing. But at the same time, the vehicles may have passengers. So, we also want to balance this to make sure that we will minimise the risk of the passengers in the vehicles being seriously injured, unlike the security bollards where, due to the high impact collision and because the bollards are designed to be unyielding, that means for security bollards, they are unyielding. It means they will not move or break off. Whereas for the safety bollards, because we are balancing both the impact, protecting the pedestrians as well as the passengers in the vehicles, they absorb the impact. At the same time, they could break or fall off whilst absorbing the impact. At the same time, these bollards at the junction would also provide visibility. They will guide the motorist when they are turning. They will clearly delineate the passenger waiting area, the buffer area, as well as enhance visibility and, therefore, minimise or reduce the likelihood of these vehicles encroaching into the area.”
“The bollards installed at pedestrian crossings by the Land Transport Authority (LTA) are not of the K4, K8 or K12 standards stated by the Member. Bollards of these standards are typically security bollards. They are installed to protect critical infrastructure or at high security areas, such as Changi Airport, to be unyielding. The bollards that LTA has installed at around 100 signalised junctions are safety bollards that help protect pedestrians waiting to cross the road. They are designed to balance absorbing the impact from a vehicle and not causing serious injury to passengers in the vehicle. In contrast, as security bollards are designed to withstand high impact collisions without yielding, when a vehicle hits a security bollard, the vehicle will likely suffer severe damage and the passengers in the vehicle risk serious or even fatal injury.”
“Actually, I was going to say that I want to thank the Member for her question. As I mentioned yesterday in my reply to Ms Hazel Poa's Parliamentary Question, the Ministry of Transport will be providing more details regarding the review of the point-to-point transport sector at the upcoming Committee of Supply debate. So, we will address the Member's question then.”
“Today, it is really a short answer; just two paragraphs, Mr Speaker, Sir. The Electric Vehicle Early Adoption Incentive (EEAI) scheme was introduced in 2021 to encourage adoption of electric cars by narrowing the upfront cost gap between electric and internal combustion engine (ICE) cars. Adoption of electric cars has been increasing – last year, around one third of new car registrations were electric cars. We will review the EEAI later this year, taking into consideration factors such as EV adoption rates and upfront cost difference across powertrains. 11.30 am”
“I thank the Member for the supplementary question. As I noted earlier in my reply, this was a deployment error. NCS had acknowledged and taken responsibility for the error. The deployment error occurred when the system changes were being deployed to the production environment, that is the actual system. The lines of code for program to control when this lock-in period message will be displayed and to which users, were actually not deployed. So, it resulted in the premature display of this lock-in period message to users who were using the digital service for the relevant vehicle transactions. When this error was discovered, NCS has taken various steps to prevent the recurrence of this error. Firstly, they have implemented additional checks both before and after the code merging deployment. They have also put in place a buddy system with a senior developer to check on the works or to review the works that were done.”
“MOT will be sharing more details regarding the review of the point-to-point transport sector at the upcoming COS debate and we will address their questions then.”
“Mr Speaker, the Land Transport Authority (LTA) had earlier explained why it brought forward the implementation of a mandatory three-year lock-in period for all newly registered or converted business-owned chauffeured private hire cars (PHCs) in its news release on 19 February 2025. Let me recap the key points. LTA had originally planned to announce this policy change during the Ministry of Transport's (MOT’s) Committee of Supply (COS) debate in March 2025, as part of an update on our review of the point-to-point transport sector. However, LTA had to bring forward the implementation date due to an unintentional error by its system vendor NCS. The team from NCS, who was working on the IT system changes, made a deployment error, resulting in the message regarding the lock-in period being prematurely revealed to some users before the planned announcement date. The mistake was due to human error. NCS has taken steps to prevent a recurrence. When MOT and LTA found out on 18 February that the information was prematurely revealed to some users, we decided to make a public announcement on the policy change on 19 February morning. This was because there was an ongoing Certificate of Entitlement (COE) bidding exercise from 17 February to 19 February, and we wanted to ensure fairness and transparency to all parties and allow bidders sufficient time to decide whether to adjust their bids, before the bidding cycle closed at 4.00 pm on 19 February. Mr Speaker, three other Members, namely Ms Mariam Jaafar, Mr Dennis Tan and Mr Yip Hon Weng, have filed questions on the lock-in period for business-owned chauffeured PHCs for subsequent Sittings.”
“Thank you very much, Speaker. Let me also touch on this point that we also regularly engage key stakeholders including NGOs, industry associations and the academia. At these joint meetings, the NGOs and industry associations update one another about their concerns, as well as the challenges faced on the ground and initiatives to improve the situation. I want to thank these stakeholders for walking this journey together with us to enhance safety for our workers. NGOs, such as Migrant Workers' Centre, COVID-19 Migrant Support Coalition, HealthServe and ItsRainingRaincoats, have been engaging and educating workers on the various measures that have been implemented and importantly, what workers should expect from their employers. Let me end by saying that the Government is committed to continue working closely with our stakeholders to improve the safety of our workers and all road users, but we want to do so in a practical and effective manner. 11.33 am”
“It is quite short. Under the Road Traffic Act, all equipment on board lorries must also be properly secured to ensure safety for all road users and workers. In addition — my apologies, Speaker, the paragraph is not very short.”
“These include requirements for dual role drivers, or workers who also have driving responsibilities, to have sufficient rest; for drivers of lorries ferrying workers to have a "vehicle buddy"; as well as for the mandatory installation of rain covers. These measures came into force on 1 January 2023. We had also implemented measures prior to this, such as requiring lorries to be fitted with canopies and higher protective side railings, have lower speed limits and minimum space requirements.”
“However, for many micro, small and medium enterprises (SMEs), it is neither practical nor viable for the employers to have different vehicles and drivers to transport a small number of workers separately from their equipment and goods. For instance, those in the specialist trades typically need to transport a small crew of workers and equipment to several locations within a day, and to ensure that both the workers and equipment can arrive at the site simultaneously to minimise downtime. These are not just financial constraints but practical operational challenges that I hope Members can appreciate will be difficult for our SMEs to implement. Banning the use of lorries is also not feasible due to the acute shortage of bus drivers, which is already experienced by the public transport, tour bus and school bus sectors. Taking such an approach will have a significant impact on the viability of our SMEs. Many of them could be forced to shut down, causing workers, both local and foreign, to lose their jobs. It will also lead to delays for critical projects like the Housing and Development Board flats, schools, hospitals and Mass Rapid Transit lines, and result in higher cost for Singaporeans. A balance needs to be struck to protect the lives and livelihoods of workers, and to look after the well-being of all Singaporeans. That is why we continue to push ahead with the third prong, which is to make it safer for everyone when employers need to use lorries to ferry their workers. We rolled out several measures over the past few years, together with our tripartite partners and the non-governmental organisations (NGOs).”
“Mr Speaker, my response today will also cover related questions filed by Mr Louis Ng and Ms Hazel Poa for subsequent Sittings. Improving the safety of all road users is a priority for the Ministry of Transport (MOT); and this requires the collective effort by all stakeholders. Over the years, Government agencies have been working together with our tripartite partners to continually review the transportation of workers on board lorries and to put in place practical measures that can help to reduce risks and enhance safety. The Government takes a coordinated and multi-pronged approach. First, we aim to reduce the need to transport the workers, such as by facilitating the co-location of worker dormitories near to where they work, where feasible. This is the case, for example, in the shipyards and larger construction sites. Second, we encourage alternatives to lorries, such as buses. We have been engaging our industry associations to encourage their members to transport their workers on buses, and a number of companies have responded. Woh Hup, a homegrown construction firm, has been transporting most of its workers in buses rather than lorries. Other companies, like Straits, are also doing the same. The industry associations and employers have said that they will do their best to transition to safer modes of transport for workers where possible. Some have suggested that the Government should ban the transportation of workers on the back of lorries. While this suggestion is well-intentioned, it is not a practical solution, especially for some contractors. For larger projects where the workers are housed in offsite dormitories, many are already being transported in buses to the worksite.”
“The Ministry of Transport agrees with Mr Henry Kwek's suggestion. We have been installing seats in some longer underground walkways based on commuter feedback, such as at Marine Terrace, Beauty World and Bukit Panjang stations. We plan to extend this to other stations. For the upcoming Jurong Region line and Cross Island line, the Land Transport Authority has also planned for seats in longer walkways, both above and underground, to provide better comfort and convenience for commuters.”
“I thank the Member for his supplementary question. Firstly, with regard to third-party apps, we now have three third-party apps: one is by NCS, an app called Breeze; another app is by Galactico; the third one is by Motorist.sg. In addition, we have our own LTA in-house developed app. We are more than happy to work with third-party developers. In fact, we encourage and work with the industry app developers to develop apps that use our ERP 2.0 data with the Software Development Kit and develop apps that will be useful and will enhance the usefulness of the ERP 2.0 OBU through using the handphone. With regard to the OBU features, which are available on the OBU screen itself, as well as through the handphone or it can be pushed to the handphone, currently, we have features to indicate School Zones, Silver Zones, bus lanes and, of course, Traffic Police speed cameras. We have enhanced that so that it is not just indicating the fixed speed cameras, but also the mobile speed cameras and the red-light speed cameras. Then, we also have travel time along expressways, car park availability. In fact, we have enhanced that. It is no more just in the city area, but you can also get car park availability in Buona Vista and Jurong. Also, information on road closures for major events, like the National Day Parade or Purple Parade, for instance. Also, height advisories for goods vehicles. And then we are looking at developing other features and among them would be, for instance, reminder of missed ERP payments that you can pay via the OBU and dynamic road traffic messages, like if there is a traffic accident.”
“As of 31 December 2024, more than 217,000 vehicles have been fitted with the Electronic Road Pricing (ERP) 2.0 On-Board Units (OBU). We are on track to complete the installation by 2026.”
“First, let me state that whilst I say that the penalties are stiff, I must say NEA is not heartless. When we come across cases where it is a mental issue and so on, which we have, we do work with the families, refer them for treatment or encourage or advise the family to do so. And we work with the family and the community to see how we can find a solution for this. For instance, Minister Grace Fu shared with us that in her constituency, she had a case like this. So, she worked with the residents and the community to put up grilles so that they cannot do the littering. I think we need to come up with creative solutions like this for unique cases or cases where it is because they are mentally not well, and so on. That is why I say we need to see how we can customise solutions to tackle some of these problems. I do not think you have a one-size-fits-all solution, but generally, with enforcement, with education and outreach, we hope to minimise the number of such anti-social behaviours.”
“In fact, it is not just videos, even photos and so on, you can give us so that we can narrow down the suspect unit or that stack. We will then engage that stack of households or intensify our engagement there.”
“The 30% catch rate is overall and it varies from year to year. The fluctuations really can be multi-factorial; we cannot really identify why it is 30%. But really, the success rate of a particular case depends on the information we have. If we are able to really pin down that particular stack or that particular few levels, and we are able to aim the camera there, then the likelihood of being caught for the high-rise littering is higher. The other thing, of course, is I think we all know – it is not only Clementi, West Coast, Ayer Rajah or Gek Poh residents who are frustrated. Everybody who faces this problem is frustrated if we cannot catch them. We do our best. But for particular cases, if we have good information, the chance is very high that we will catch the litterbug. So, I had a look through all the cases of the different Members of Parliament who have filed the high-rise littering PQs. And among those, there are cases where we have caught the litterbug. We put the surveillance camera and we have caught them. And there are cases where we have not – and it can be for various reasons. Either the intelligence is not good, or it is very hard to find a good vantage point. Sometimes, we have the vantage point and the camera is so visible to the offender that during that period, he does not offend. That can be the case. Although I hope that sometimes when you see the camera, you would not offend and then you do not do it anymore. But that is not always the issue. So, I think it is a host of factors. But on average, it is 30%. Actually, that shows the difficulty that we have in tackling this problem. And we will be most happy to get all these intelligences.”
“When high-rise litterbugs are caught on surveillance cameras, they may be caught for more than one act, because the surveillance cameras can be there for five days, seven days and up to 14 days. We have seen cases where they are caught every day for high-rise littering and so, the fine, the penalty is very stiff and they can also be asked to go for Corrective Work Order. We have done this as part of a package to really deter high-rise litterbugs. Beyond that, as I have said, and which the Member has also suggested, we need to work with the community. We need to work with the community, in fact, for localised ideas as to how we can better deter such behaviours. Some of the things we are doing on the ground – for instance, putting standees to show that the area is under surveillance or putting up posters on the number of litterbugs that have been caught there or littering acts that have been caught there – is to raise deterrence, as well as to encourage a change in behaviour. We will be more than happy to work with the community on what else we can do with regard to tackling this issue.”
“Hot spots and hot topic. I also want to refer back to Dr Tan Wu Meng's earlier question as well as Member Ms Yeo Wan Ling's question about hot spots and egregious high-rise littering acts. Over the years we have improved or enhanced our processes in terms of surveillance camera deployment. Now we use data analytics to prioritise deployment of surveillance cameras. If there are hot spots with persistent littering and egregious high-rise littering acts, these will be prioritised for deployment of surveillance cameras. With regard to technology, again, as I have said in my earlier reply, we continue to explore and monitor technologies available, including drone flights. But currently, our assessment is that, for drone flights, there are some challenges. For instance, the battery life is not long enough for continuous monitoring. There is also some safety risk because these are high-rise buildings, so, drone flights may cause issues with safety as well as privacy. But we are not shutting this off; we are looking at that. For cameras, we are looking, as I said, on higher resolution cameras as well as working with industry players on the development of better video analytics in order to better detect high-rise littering cases. So, this is ongoing. With regard to the third question from the Member Ms Yeo on penalties, since 2014, we have doubled the maximum court fines. For high-rise littering, they are not offered composition fine. They have to attend Court. And the maximum penalty, as I have said, has been doubled: first offence, up to $2,000; second offence, up to $4,000; third and subsequent offence, up to $10,000.”
“We need to work together with the community and a more sustainable way is to change behaviour and cultivate more gracious behaviour and collective responsibility in tackling high-rise littering issues and in keeping Singapore clean and safe.”
“I thank the Member for highlighting the issues. It is not just faced by Clementi residents. Because Singapore is so dense, high-rise living, densely built. There are instances of these. Fortunately, it is not the majority of Singaporeans. It is the minority who are engaged in such anti-social behaviour, but enough to cause us grief. And we need to put in quite a substantial amount of resources to tackle high-rise littering. As noted by the Member, there are some blocks where the design is such that it is very difficult to find a vantage point to deploy surveillance cameras. I had said earlier in my reply that for such instances, we will have to work on intensifying outreach and education efforts, getting the support of the community, for instance, to see how we can instil more socially responsible behaviour or to give us ground intelligence, as to the suspected unit and even evidence where it is available. We also do stake-outs to try and nab the litterbug. But as I have noted, it is not easy and we will need to depend on working with the community for such cases. With regard to when better cameras and other technologies will be available, we continue to explore the availability of such technologies. As I have said, we are looking into getting higher resolution cameras with a wider field of view, for instance, that may address some of these issues as well as looking at where we can better put these cameras and so on. But having said that, the important point to note is that the use of surveillance cameras and other technologies really just augment all the other efforts that we are putting in to tackle high-rise littering. It is a multi-pronged and holistic approach. I do not think we can just depend on technology to do this.”