inSing.com, 24 Apr 2012Former Potong Pasir Member of Parliament Chiam See Tong has hit back at statements made by the ward’s current MP Sitoh Yih Pin painting a bleak picture of the town council’s coffers.
In a statement to the media, Mr Chiam said he sought to clarify a “misleading” Straits Times report on Saturday (April 21).
In that report, Mr Sitoh asked for nine years to repay $8.7 million to the Ministry of National Development for lift upgrading works done at 48 blocks of flats.
The payment was to have been completed in 2014.
He said that the town council did not have enough in its residential sinking fund to foot the bill of the upgrade.
According to the Straits Times report, the town council only had $4.4 million as of March 31 last year.
But in a statement on Tuesday (April 24), Mr Chiam, who is the secretary-general of the Singapore People’s Party, said the town council’s financial situation was not bad as described by Mr Sitoh.
“I can categorically state that my town council and I would have executed the Lift Upgrading Programme (LUP) project without any hassle,” he said. “We had a clear financial plan and were reserving funds even from our operating accounts.”
Mr Chiam added that as of 31 March last year, the total available residential property fund was $6.7 million. Full story
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We had a clear financial plan for lift upgrading: Chiam See Tong - Yahoo! News Singapore
