NEW POSTCODE (Introduction)

Mr Heng Chiang Meng asked the Minister for Communications whether and when a new 6- or 8-digit postcode will be introduced and why.

The Minister for Communications (Mr Mah Bow Tan): Mr Speaker, Sir, the present 4-digit postcode has been in use since 1979. At present, mail is sorted mechanically to what are known as delivery centres. From the delivery centres, they are then processed manually by the postman according to the sequence of delivery when he goes on his rounds. The manual sorting of mail is a very labour-intensive and time-consuming process.

The Postal Service handles about 1.6 million articles every day. The number of postal articles is increasing year by year. Growth is conservatively estimated at 6% per year. At this rate, the Postal Service will handle about 2.6 million items per day by the year 2000. If we continue to use the same manual sorting process, the Postal Service will need about 600 more postmen to maintain the same level of service. This ultimately means that postage rates must go up. The alternative is that service standards will drop, as the sorting and delivery of mail will be slower. Both alternatives are not acceptable.

To maintain the current standard of next day delivery of mail, a better solution would be to automate the mail sorting process. It would be ideal to give each of the 270,000 addresses or group of addresses in the same block a unique code so that we can sort mail automatically right down to the postman's sequence of delivery. This requires a postcode system with a minimum of 6-digits. The current 4-digit code is not enough as it can only generate 10,000 codes.

There will be cost incurred and some inconvenience in changing to a new code, but this will be worthwhile if it leads to greater efficiency and substantial savings in future recurrent costs. My Ministry has asked Singapore Post to study various alternatives, the cost implications and to take all necessary steps to ensure the smooth implementation of a new postcode.

Mr Heng Chiang Meng (Cheng San GRC): Sir, I have two supplementary questions. First, the question of cost. May I ask the Minister whether the postage cost for sending mail with the new code will go up, and, if so, roughly by how much. Second, in the new system, I hope the Ministry or at least Singapore Post would provide adequate publicity and reminders, such as stickers, so that Singaporeans are aware of the new postcode.

Mr Mah Bow Tan: Sir, there is no reason why the implementation of the new postcode should result in the postage rates going up. In fact, the whole idea of having the new postcode is to maintain cost at the current level for as long as possible. Of course, having said that, I cannot guarantee that postage rates will not go up at all because there will be other variations in costs involved and Singapore Post obviously will have to take this into account.

As far as the publicity is concerned, as I indicated in my reply, I have asked Singapore Post to look very carefully at the implementation process to minimise disruption both on the part of business as well as the individual members of the public.