CLEANING CONTRACTORS IN PRIVATE HOUSING ESTATES

CLEANING CONTRACTORS IN PRIVATE HOUSING ESTATES:

(Job scope): 5.

Ms Lee Bee Wah asked the Minister for the Environment and Water Resources (a) what is the job scope of contractors responsible for the cleaning of roads, pavements and drains in private housing estates; (b) what is the frequency of such cleaning; and (c) who monitors this work.

Dr Amy Khor Lean Suan (for the Minister for the Environment and Water Resources): Mr Speaker, Sir, my Ministry employs contractors to clean private housing estates. The cleaning contractors sweep the roads and remove litter from the pavements, footpaths, grass verges, bus-stops and other open public areas in the estates. Cleaning is carried out at least twice a week. Some estates which are more heavily littered are cleaned more frequently, including everyday if necessary. In addition, litter bins are emptied daily. Contractors are also engaged to remove litter and leaves from drains in private housing estates. All drains are cleaned at least once a week, with the more heavily littered drains cleaned up to three times a week.

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In addition to checks by ground supervisors of the cleaning contractors, NEA and PUB officers conduct regular audit checks to ensure that the cleaning works are carried out satisfactorily according to schedule. Residents with feedback may contact NEA or PUB. They may also contact the cleaning contractor in charge of their estates. Cleaning contractors for private estates have also informed residents of the cleaning schedules for their estates.

Other than the cleaning contractors, NEA's workmen also clean some of the private estates in Singapore. These workmen are supervised by NEA environmental health officers.

Ms Lee Bee Wah: Sir, I definitely agree that the rubbish is cleaned every day but certainly not the road pavements. In fact, I have pictures taken more than two weeks ago and until today, some of the rubbish is still there. Sir, I would like to know whether the Ministry is going to tighten up the audit process, as we are paying the contractors for works not done, and this is a very common complaint in the private estates.

Dr Amy Khor Lean Suan: Sir, currently, there are two levels of checks, as I have noted earlier. Firstly, the cleaning companies deploy their ground supervisors to monitor the performance of these workmen for the areas under their care. On top of this, the NEA officers also conduct daily audits to monitor the performance of these cleaning companies to ensure that they keep to the cleaning schedules and their workmen deliver the service satisfactorily. In fact, our NEA ground officers also regularly review how frequently an area needs to be cleaned taking into account, of course, the volume of pedestrian traffic, how heavily littered the area is as well as the volume of leaf fall. So, if necessary, they can require the

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cleaning contractors to clean the area more frequently. Normally, as I said, it is cleaned twice a week but they could ask the cleaning contractors to clean three times or even every day. This is how we actually monitor. In fact, we have also asked the cleaning contractors to inform the residents of their cleaning schedules as well as cleaning frequency and to update the residents of this information once every six months, so that the residents can give us more meaningful and timely feedback.

Mr Speaker: Order. End of Question Time.

[Pursuant to Standing Order No. 22(3), Written Answers to Question Nos. 6-9, 11-12 and 14 on the Order Paper are reproduced in the Appendix*. Question Nos. 10 and 13 have been postponed to the sitting of Parliament on 1st March 2007.]

*Cols. 2003-2018.