TAXI LICENCES (Particulars)

Mr Chew Heng Ching asked the Minister for Communications and Information how many taxi licences were issued in 1983, 1984 and 1985, and whether he will give priority to applications for taxi licences from the older retrenched workers who are unable to find new jobs because of their age.

The Minister for Communications and Information (Dr Yeo Ning Hong): Mr Speaker, Sir, the ROV issued 2,240, 1,725 and 3,044 taxi driver's licences in 1983, 1984 and 1985 respectively.

Taxi licences are issued by ROV to all applicants after they have completed and passed their taxi driving course. These courses are conducted by the NTUC Comfort and Singapore Commuters Pte. Ltd.

The ROV will expedite the processing of these applications so that the applicants can attend these training courses.

Mr Chew Heng Ching (Kaki Bukit): Sir, would the Minister consider relaxing the language criterion for the older group of retrenched workers?

Dr Yeo Ning Hong: Sir, the question has been asked many times before and the answer is no. We really need to have people who are able to converse in the basic languages, simple English and simple Mandarin.