SUPERVISION OF DRAIN CLEANING IN KAMPONG CHIA HENG

Mrs Devan Nair asked the Minister for Health if he is satisfied with the supervision exercised over the contract workmen who clean drains at Kampong Chia Heng as the drains there are choked with rubbish and the environmental conditions are not conducive to the health of the residents in that Kampong.

Mr Yong Nyuk Lin: It is admitted that there was no supervision of contract workmen last month (February 1967) who were responsible for the cleansing and desilting of the large anti-malarial drain which runs through Kampong Chia Heng off Thomson Road, near the junction with Newton Road.

There were two main reasons for this lack of supervision. Firstly, there was an unfortunate delay of one month in the award of the tender to Poh Construction Co., which should have been made with effect from the 1st of January, 1967, but was not finalised till the 1st of February, 1967, thus resulting in the accumulation of silt, etc. for one month.

Secondly, because of the three-day wild-cat strike by the Public Daily-Rated Cleansing Workers' Union on the 1st of February, 1967, the supervisory staff of the Public Cleansing Department had their hands full in pursuing with re-organisation of the Public Cleansing Service, and were therefore not in the position to supervise the contract workmen for this and other drains, but supervisory work commenced with effect from the 1st of March this year.

The backlog of silt in the anti-malarial drain passing through Kampong Chia Heng has since been removed, and I can assure the Member for Moulmein that there are adequate provisions in the tender contracts to penalise contractors for unsatisfactory work.

In clause 13 of the contract, the Ministry has the power to request the contractor to increase his work force within 24 hours and to deal with any complaint without extra claim on the Ministry, and if this is not rectified within seven days, the Ministry can deal with the matter and bill the contractor for the extra cost involved. And in clause 35, if work is still unsatisfactory, the Ministry has the power to make deductions against monthly dues.