Sembawang Town Council has $233 million reserves!!!

dragg SG

extracted from ST forum.

Ensure no place for 'pork-barrel' politics

HOT on the heels of the $160 million renewal plan announced recently by the Aljunied Town Council, the East Coast Town Council has been allocated $500 million for its five-year plan. The Jalan Besar Town Council is expected to announce its plan early next year.

While such programmes are welcome, especially to residents in Aljunied and East Coast who are the direct beneficiaries, many Singaporeans cannot help but view them as the Government's adoption of 'pork-barrel' politics - loosely translated to mean government spending that is intended to benefit constituents in return for their political support - coming as they do before the impending General Election.

As the Prime Minister himself deplores pork-barrel politics, as evidenced by his recent criticism of the practice in Japan when speaking at a luncheon organised by the Foreign Correspondents Association ('Singapore's PM criticises Japan's pork-barrel politics'; Japan Today, Oct 7), he should ensure that before the next election is held, budgets for such five-year renewal plans are allocated to all the remaining constituencies that have yet to announce such plans.

Better still, let the parties contesting the election come up with their plans on how to utilise these funds to benefit the residents in these wards. Residents can then decide for themselves which platforms to endorse - besides other considerations - and vote accordingly.

This way, the MPs can then be held accountable, ensuring that they fulfil their election promises before their five years are up.

Jeffrey Ho Loon Poh

macjoe SG

What is Pork barrel politics?

In politics, a pork barrel (or pork barrel politics) is a derogatory term describing government spending that is intended to benefit constituents of a politician in return for their political support, either in the form of campaign contributions or votes.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pork_barrel

Let's see:

$160 mil Aljunied
$500 mil East Coast
$300 mil Tampines
$570 mil Sembawang
$___ mil Jalan Besar

Looks like the PM's talk on pork barrel politics apply to others but not his own party members. He should suspend his party members' pork barrel decisions.

*sigh*

qooorange SG

where do u guys get the numbers from? i have been reading economist, and for a long time, it is indicated that singapore's foreign reserve hovers around USD76b (including gold). Gold is not included in other countries' figures.

meleagent SG

Originally posted by Cindyfeh:

Whoever is their fund mgr, I dunnoe. I just hope its not temasek or GIC. Why? Read further down..

------------
What Mr Hawazi claimed:
"According to Mr Hawazi, Sembawang Town Council is in "very sound financial health" with a surplus of $8.6 million and $[b]233 million in its reserves. Its decision to invest its funds has paid off.
.
"Our funds with our fund managers have given us a total return of $25 million in the last two years, or a yield of 16 per cent per annum," said Mr Hawazi"
-------------
If you do some simple maths...
If Sembawang reserve earned $25 million between Nov '03 and Nov '05, it means it started with $208 million.

25/208 = 12% gain over 2 years
Per annum gain = 6%

I Wonder if there is a typo in 16 per cent per annum as claimed by Hawazi.

On a side note, here is the STI for the same periods:
Nov '03 = 1750
Nov '05 = 2300
Per annum STI gain is 15%!

Now, who is kidding who on "very sound financial"....

[/b]

Oh my is this another "honest mistake" by our MIW. 6% and 16% annual returns makes a huge difference. My guess is this is another attempt to mislead the electorate ahead of the coming election

Cindyfeh SG

Finance 101

singapore Gov bond rates of 3 or 4% is gross (you can think of it as the real bond rate is 1% then the inflation rate is 2 or 3%)

Unless its a short term overdraft account, bank corporate lending rate will not hit 20%. There again, overdrafts are to solve companies' short term cash flow problem. There can be many overdrafts handled by a bank per day. I don't think Sembawang Town Council goes into that.

mach10 SG

wat's wrong?
they never say they are "non-profit organisation" wat. Laughing

TooFree SG

Laughing Short and sweet in one cut... I like that ..

de_middle SG

Who cares whether its enough, everyday costs are rising & who do we blame?

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