JURONG TOWN CORPORATION (AMENDMENT NO. 2) BILL

Order for Second Reading read.

3.34 p.m.

The Minister for Finance (Mr Hon Sui Sen): Mr Speaker, Sir, I beg to move, "That the Bill be now read a Second time."

The Bill seeks to amend the Jurong Town Corporation Act, 1968, in the light of experience gained over the last 2« years. These amendments are in addition to those which were introduced, as a matter of urgency, under the Jurong Town Corporation (Amendment) Act, 1970, in September last year.

Clause 2 of the Bill sets the 4th day of September, 1970, as the date of coming into operation of the 1970 Amendment Act. Members will recall that the 1970 Amendment Act empowered the Jurong Town Corporation, among other things, to raise loans from outside sources. The present amendment before this House is necessary to give legal validity to the signing of the Loan Agreement between the Jurong Town Corporation and the Asian Development Bank on the 5th September, 1970. The Bank agreed to lend the Corporation a sum of US $8.3 million to finance the expansion of Jurong wharves. It is proposed to set the 4th day of September, 1970 - the day immediately preceding the date of signature of the Loan Agreement - as the date of coming into operation of the Jurong Town Corporation (Amendment) Act, 1970.

Clause 3 amends section 13 of the principal Act which lays down the duties and powers of the Corporation. Paragraphs (a) , (b) and (c) are drafting amendments. Paragraph (d) empowers the Corporation to sell or lease flats, houses or other living accommodation. This is necessary to enable the Corporation to undertake the housing of workers in Jurong.

There are references, in sections 17, 21, 23, 24 and 25 of the principal Act, to a "Jurong Town Corporation Fund". It is proposed, under clauses 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8 of the Bill, to delete these references and substitute references to the Corporation itself, as the principal Act does not actually provide for the setting up of a Jurong Town Corporation Fund.

Clause 5 alters the manner of appointment of the Corporation's auditor. Section 21 of the principal Act provides that the Minister shall nominate for every year an auditor of the Corporation's accounts. It is proposed that, as in the case of other statutory bodies, the Corporation's auditor should be appointed, not by the Minister but by the Corporation itself with the concurrence of the Minister.

Clause 6 amends section 23 of the principal Act so that the Corporation will now be required to submit its annual statement of accounts to the Minister and the auditor will be required to submit separately his report on the statement of accounts. Both the statement of accounts and the auditor's report thereon shall be published in the Gazette. This introduces a measure of public accountability and is an improvement on the existing provision which only requires the auditor to certify the Corporation's statement of accounts.

Clause 7 amends section 24 of the principal Act to make it clear that the accounting records of the Corporation should distinguish capital transactions from revenue transactions and that moneys received by way of loans should be shown separately. The marginal note is amended because the provisions of the section deal not only with bank accounts but with accounting records as well.

Section 27 of the principal Act provides that the Corporation may invest any money standing to its credit in any trustee securities. This provision is unduly restrictive and it is proposed, under clause 9, to allow the Corporation, with the approval of the Minister, to invest in shares of any private or public company.

Clause 10, which introduces a new section 27A in the principal Act, allows the Corporation to form subsidiary companies for the purpose of carrying out any of the functions of the Corporation. It may be desirable in certain circumstances, not only in the interests of flexibility of operation but also of financial accountability, to separate some of the Corporation's functions from the others and to entrust them to companies in which the Corporation would have a majority interest. Members will notice that, under subsection (3) of the proposed new section 27A, the operations of such companies would be subject to detailed supervision by the Minister.

Clauses 11 and 12, which introduce another new section in the principal Act, confer on the Corporation the exclusive right to the use of the symbol which is set out in the proposed Schedule to the principal Act. This symbol has already been in use for some time and is, I am sure, familiar to all Members.

Mr Speaker, Sir, I beg to move.

Question put, and agreed to.

Bill accordingly read a Second time and committed to a Committee of the whole House.

The House immediately resolved itself into a Committee on the Bill. -(Mr Hon Sui Sen].

Bill considered in Committee

[Mr Speaker in the Chair]

3.39 p.m.

Clause 1 -

The Chairman: The citation of the Bill will be amended to read "the Jurong Town Corporation (Amendment No. 2) Act, 1971".

Clause 1 ordered to stand part of the Bill.

Clauses 2 to 12 inclusive ordered to stand part of the Bill.

Bill reported without amendment; read a Third time and passed.