PUBLIC UTILITIES BILL

Order for Second Reading read.

2.55 p.m.

The Prime Minister (Mr Lee Kuan Yew): Mr Speaker, Sir, I have His Excellency the Yang di-Pertuan Negara's recommendation to proceed with this Bill. I beg to move, "That the Bill be now read a Second time."

Sir, this Bill, together with the complementary Local Government Integration Bill, which will be moved by my colleague, the Minister for Finance, has been drafted to carry out the P.A.P.'s programme of unified administration as outlined in The Tasks Ahead. Therein we pointed out the peculiar position in Singapore of two parallel administrations - the Central Government and the City Council - existing side by side and duplicating each other's functions and activities. We were against such a wasteful and expensive system of government for such a small island and proposed to rationalise the administrative structure.

Sir, the implementation of this policy of integration was phased in three stages:

1. The administrative integration of the City Council Departments into relevant Ministries of the Government.

2. The financial integration which was completed with the coming into operation on the 1st of January, 1961, of the Property Tax Ordinance and the Local Government Financial Integration Ordinance. These two Bills, the Public Utilities Bill and the Local Government Integration Bill, will mark the fruition of our policy of unified administration.

When this Bill comes into force and the Public Utilities Board is established, integration will be legally completed.

Sir, incorporated in this Bill are those sections of the Local Government Ordinance, 1957, which are applicable to the three trading departments of electricity, water, gas and their duties, powers and responsibilities. Regard is also being paid to the relevant legislation, including the Federation of Malaya Electricity Ordinance, 1949, the Housing and Development Ordinance, 1959, and the Singapore Telephone Board Ordinance.

The Explanatory Statement adequately indicates the intention and purpose of the Bill. As it is the intention to refer this Bill together with other related Bills involved in this exercise of integration to a Select Committee to allow for careful study before enactment, I do not propose to elaborate on the detailed provisions of this Bill.

Sir, the purpose of sending it to Select Committee is in order to allow all interested parties to make their representations. It may well be, Mr Speaker, Sir, that these representations will entail a redrafting of the Bill when it is submitted to the House again later in the new Session after the Assembly has been adjourned sine die and prorogued.

Question proposed.

2.59 p.m.

Mr A. P. Rajah (Farrer Park): There is just one provision in the Bill, Mr Speaker, Sir, on which I would like to touch, which seems to involve the question of principle, and the principle is one which affects the authority of the Assembly. Mr Speaker, Sir, the power to borrow money as set out in the various clauses here seems, in some way, to infringe upon the rights of the Assembly in so far as the monies of the State are concerned. Take clause 23 onwards, Mr Speaker, Sir. There is no doubt that the Board must be given ample powers to borrow money and, as such, it must be able to fix its rate of interest and the terms and conditions upon which repayment will be effected. I fully appreciate all that. I also appreciate that the Board will be in a very different position from what the City Council was, because the City Council was an institution which had been in existence for some considerable time. It had property of its own and all the loans which were raised by the City Council for its public utility undertakings were a charge upon all the assets of the City Council. That being so, it was possible to induce the investing public to take up those loans. But the Board will naturally be in a different position. All its assets will be assets which are not marketable assets, and therefore the borrowing powers to that extent will be largely hampered from a security point of view. Therefore, it is necessary that these loans should be underwritten by the Government. I fully appreciate that. But there is a provision in the Bill which says that if the revenues of the Board are insufficient to meet payments from these loan liabilities either incurred in the past or in the future, then they shall be a charge on the public debt of Singapore.

Mr Speaker, Sir, as you know, under the Constitution, any charge on the public debt is not an item arguable in this Assembly. It is an item of statutory expenditure which the Government automatically gets. This is a question of principle which, I think, the Assembly is rightly interested in, although I do appreciate the difficulties of the situation. The position could arise, Mr Speaker, Sir, that a great deal of money could be borrowed by the Board, naturally with the consent of the Minister, and yet the Assembly would find itself unable to do anything about it because any expenditure in the way of repayment will be a public debt. The Assembly will be powerless. I do not know what the solution is; perhaps the Minister might think of one, but I raise it as a matter which concerns the rights of the Legislative Assembly.

3.03 p.m.

Mrs Seow Peck Leng (Mountbatten): Mr Speaker, Sir, with regard to clause 19, I would like the Government, or the Select Committee when it sits, to pay attention to it. It may sound to be a matter of detail, Mr Speaker, Sir, but it is a detail that is causing hardship to a very large number of poor people in Singapore. So perhaps the Select Committee will pay attention to this detail.

Clause 19 provides that the Board may cut off supply in default of payment. I do know of people, especially those occupying S.I.T. flats, who are asked to pay a deposit of $40/- or thereabouts. Now, if for months and months they have used these facilities to the sum of $7/- or $8/-, they would still have a balance of $32/- on deposit. But by virtue of clause 19, immediately they default payment for the first time, although they have a big deposit left there, they will still be deprived of their supplies. And to get their supplies resumed, they will have to pay not only what they are asked at that time but also the expenses incurred by the Board in so cutting off the supplies and resuming them.

Mr Speaker: Order. I heard the hon Member say it was a matter for the Select Committee. I think she has made her point, and perhaps she will send a memorandum to the Select Committee on this particular point.

3.04 p.m.

Mr Ong Chang Sam (Choa Chu Kang): (In Mandarin): Mr Speaker, Sir, in moving the Second Reading debate on this Bill, the Prime Minister said that the Government dealt with the third stage of the integration of the local government with the Singapore Government.

Mr Speaker, Sir, with this Public Utilities Bill the establishment of the Public Utilities Board will change the situation in Singapore and that of all the people in Singapore. It will also affect the procedures in public utilities. We hope the supply of gas, water and electricity from the Board will be complete and better than at present.

I would also like the Prime Minister to assure the House that the establishment of the Public Utilities Board will not increase the expenses of the people of Singapore in regard to water and gas supplies. I would like him to ensure, too, that he would not increase the charges for water, gas and electricity because this will greatly affect the people of Singapore, especially the common people.

Mr Speaker, Sir, you have seen that before the establishment of the Housing and Development Board, i.e. during the time of the S.I.T., the rents fixed at that time were not as high as those after the establishment of the Housing and Development Board. So after the establishment of the Public Utilities Board, will this Board take the same step as the Housing and Development Board and increase the charges for water, gas, and electricity supplies? I hope the Prime Minister will give an assurance to the House that the charges for electricity, gas and water will not be increased in future.

Mr Speaker, from this Bill we can also see that the past City Council staff, i.e. those who worked in the Gas, Electricity and Water Departments, will be integrated and transferred to the Public Utilities Board. We hope the staff at present in the three Departments will enjoy the same benefits even after they have been integrated.

Mr Speaker, Sir, we welcome the commitment of this Bill to a Select Committee. We hope the Select Committee will consider in greater detail the opinions of the people concerned and also will arrive at conclusions more beneficial to the people.

3.10 p.m.

The Prime Minister: Sir, the point made by the Member for Farrer Park was one which was considered by a Committee which went through the Bill together with the World Bank. A large sum of money will probably have to be borrowed from the World Bank for extensive expansion of both our power supply and our waterworks. Therefore, the views of the World Bank as to the proper safeguards and provisos that there should be in the statutory provisions regulating the conduct of the Board are of some importance to us.

Sir, I do not wish to go into details regarding this. Needless to say, the World Bank, before it advances large sums of money which may well amount to over $100 million altogether, would want to be assured that there are sufficient guarantees on repayment and certain guarantees on the proper conduct of the business of the Board.

As for the points made by the Member for Choa Chu Kang, I think they are not worth any specific replies. Nobody has ever moved any Bill in this Assembly by which charges have gone up, to the detriment of the public, or by which the conditions of service of the employees of the Government Departments who have been transferred to the Board have been worsened. I think they are the usual propaganda points made over and over again in the hope that they may win votes. I do not think we are losing any, and so I shall not bother to reply.

Sir, I beg to move.

Question put, and agreed to.

Bill accordingly read a Second time.

Committed to a Select Committee consisting of Mr Speaker as Chairman and such Members as may be nominated by the Committee of Selection -[The Prime Minister].