Hansard, 1995-03-22

PERMISSION TO MEMBERS TO BE ABSENT Under the provisions of clause 2(d) of Article 46 of the Constitution of the Republic of Singapore, the following Members have been granted permission to be or to remain absent from sittings of Parliament (or any Committee of Parliament to which they have been appointed) for the periods stated:- Dr Lee Boon Yang - on 23rd March and on 7th April, 1995. Mr Tan Soo Khoon - from 26th March to 2nd April, 1995. Dr Wong Kwei Cheong - from 24th to 25th March, 1995. TAN SOO KHOON Speaker Parliament of Singapore

ESTIMATES OF EXPENDITURE FOR THE - FINANCIAL YEAR 1ST APRIL, 1995 TO 31ST MARCH, 1996 Order read for consideration in Committee of Supply [6th Allotted Day].

ESTIMATES OF EXPENDITURE FOR THE - FINANCIAL YEAR 1ST APRIL, 1995 TO 31ST MARCH, 1996 Head M (cont.) -

ESTIMATES OF EXPENDITURE FOR THE - FINANCIAL YEAR 1ST APRIL, 1995 TO 31ST MARCH, 1996 Head M - Ministry of the Environment. Amendment No. (2). Dr John Chen is not here. Mr Charles Chong.

ESTIMATES OF EXPENDITURE FOR THE - FINANCIAL YEAR 1ST APRIL, 1995 TO 31ST MARCH, 1996 Sir, I beg to move, That the sum to be allocated for Head M of the Main Estimates be reduced by $10 in respect of Code MC 1500. Sir, food waste disposers or garbage disposers are used in households to grind food waste before being discharged into the sewerage system. This appliance was introduced in the United States in the 1930s. Its use has since spread to many countries in Europe, the Middle-east and Asia, including Australia and New Zealand. However, the use of food waste disposers remains prohibited in Singapore. If wet food waste can be eliminated from our present waste collection and disposal system, the attendant problems associated with wet garbage in our hot and humid climate, such as offensive odour, flies, rodents and bacteria, would be significantly reduced. The quality of life of Singaporeans would also be significantly improved. If studies show that the use of food waste disposers would not increase water consumption, is there any reason why our sewerage system cannot be upgraded eventually to allow the use of garbage disposers in Singapore? I would be grateful if the Minister could give us his views on this subject.

ESTIMATES OF EXPENDITURE FOR THE - FINANCIAL YEAR 1ST APRIL, 1995 TO 31ST MARCH, 1996 Sir, with economic growth and affluence, the amount of waste produced in Singapore is increasing. We need to provide places to be used as landfill for the rubbish and maybe also build an extra incineration plant. As it is now, we do not have the extra space to use as landfill. I wish to ask the Minister what kind of waste can be recycled and what programme does the Ministry have to encourage waste minimisation and recycling. Sir, in November 1993, Bishan-Serangoon Town Council, together with the Sony group of companies in Singapore, launched a waste paper recycling project. This unique recycling for a charity project aims to make recycling a way of life for Singaporeans by educating residents on the values of environmental preservation and resource conservation and, at the same time, making it an opportunity for them to contribute to charity. After the year-long project, a total of 711 tonnes of old newspapers and magazines were collected from residents in Bishan/Serangoon town. With the generous dollar to dollar match of the collection proceeds by the Sony group of companies, we raised $160,000 and contributed it to the National Kidney Foundation. Sir, I wish to ask the Minister whether the Ministry intends to continue this recycling programme to other areas in Singapore.

ESTIMATES OF EXPENDITURE FOR THE - FINANCIAL YEAR 1ST APRIL, 1995 TO 31ST MARCH, 1996 Sir, food poisoning bugs strike where dirty or unhygienic conditions favour them. The Ministry's enforcement officials have done a good job in helping to reduce the incidence of food poisoning bugs in their favourite haunts in food centres and coffeeshops. But, lately, there seems to be a rising number of cases of food poisoning in top-bracket hotels and restaurants. These are the places we least expect to favour the food poisoning bug. The Ministry's enforcement officials have apparently been taken by surprise to find the food poisoning bugs among the luxurious and plush decor and fittings of hotels and restaurants. The officials may have been beguiled into taking for granted the condition of kitchens in these hotels and restaurants does not favour the bugs. I do not think it is fair to accuse the enforcement officials of neglecting their duty. It is more a question of mental attitude. They are only human beings and, as such, cannot help being lulled by the imposing appearance and reputation of the establishments they visit into thinking their kitchens are out of bound to bugs. I trust the Ministry will now instruct all its enforcement officials to subject all places where food is stored, prepared or cooked for sale to the public, to the same degree of the most stringent scrutiny. The officials should follow the example of the food poisoning bugs, that is, not to take any establishment at its own awe-inspiring face value.

ESTIMATES OF EXPENDITURE FOR THE - FINANCIAL YEAR 1ST APRIL, 1995 TO 31ST MARCH, 1996 Sir, there is an area of common interest which urgently needs to be addressed by the Environment Ministry, that is, the standard of food hygiene practised by food outlets in Singapore. I am concerned with the increased number of food poisoning cases involving large groups of people as reported last year. The Environment Ministry recorded 409 such cases in 1994. The cases of food poisoning in hotels had more than tripled. There were only 35 cases of food poisoning involving hotel outlets in 1993. In 1994, this shot up to 127 cases. This occurred despite the continued surveillance and enforcement by Environment officers. I wonder whether the present demerit point system is adequate to ensure that food establishments in hotels and other big food outlets take food hygiene seriously. I was told that in most instances, hotels only appoint officers to review its food preparation process or set standards for food hygiene after cases of food poisoning were reported. By then, it is too late as the outbreak of food poisoning has already occurred. However, at best, these are only remedial and not preventive measures. Singapore has been promoted as a food paradise for tourists and locals alike. Surely we do not need to want our 'clean' city reputation to be tarnished by unhygienic food handling practices. Basic food hygiene is essential and must be taken seriously. Food outlets in hotels serve many people and tourists at any one time. Therefore, is it not sensible for the Environment Ministry to stipulate compulsory preventive measures requiring hotels and other bigger food establishments to appoint food hygiene officers to ensure that a high standard of food hygiene is maintained at all times? I need only to refresh the House on the adage that "prevention is better than cure". So much for food outlets in hotels. As we know, good and tasty food can also be found in many food centres, snack shops, market places and kopi tiam outlets which are sprouting in many housing estates. Parallel to the growth of such outlets, I understand that between 1989 and 1993, cases of food poisoning from these outlets were the highest at 43%. Many Singaporeans and their families are eating out nowadays. It is said to be one of our national pastime activities, and for most Singaporeans, eating out has become a necessity due to dual income family. The food sold at our hawker centres is of reasonably good quality and standard. However, we must not compromise these qualities at the expense of good food hygiene. I have noticed an increasing number of food outlets selling raw seafood. The enterprising ones have included yusheng in their menu during the Chinese New Year period. Raw food can get contaminated easily. The level of food hygiene for preparing such food is even more demanding than the cooked ones. In view of the large number of local people patronising these food outlets, it is extremely important, therefore, that the food served is prepared under strict hygiene standards. The utensils used for cooking and food preparation must be properly cleaned. All food handlers should be educated or screened routinely to make sure that the food they prepare is safe for public consumption. May I ask the Minister whether regular inspections are being carried out on the food outlets and whether a continuous public campaign could be launched to impress food handlers and consumers on the essentials of food hygiene and food preparation. With these preventive measures in place, and together with the continued vigilance of the Environment officials, I am sure we can continue to enjoy clean and quality food in Singapore.

ESTIMATES OF EXPENDITURE FOR THE - FINANCIAL YEAR 1ST APRIL, 1995 TO 31ST MARCH, 1996 Sir, I rise to speak on a topic which I think is quite important, ie, to request the Minister to re-educate food handlers on the use of disposable gloves. This could provide some answer to Mr Teo Chong Tee's concern about the spread of food poisoning cases. Sir, disposable glove, by its name, implies throwing it away after use. However, if you watch our food handlers wearing gloves to prepare food, both in our hawker and food centres and even at food courts, you wonder whether the use of these gloves is to protect us, the consumers, or the food handlers themselves. As far as I am concerned, its use protects the food handlers, and not us, the consumers. These food handlers, if you watch them carefully, are fully gloved. They prepare the food, they receive the money from you, they wipe their gloves on the apron, and get back to preparing food. This ritual is repeated without changing gloves. What does this mean? You do not need to be a medical doctor, like me, to see how soiled the disposable gloves have become after a few preparations. These disposable gloves are harbouring a lot of germs and bacteria from this exchange of cash and food preparation and it is no wonder we get sporadic outbreaks of diarrhoea, vomiting and food poisoning cases. I understand our Asian way of preparing food. They need to use their hands a lot. But it should not be used as an excuse to do away with gloves. Therefore, I would like to request the Ministry to have a re-education programme of these food handlers on simple basic hygiene and how germs are spread, why they should wash and wipe their hands after each preparation of food. Finally, and most important of all, those who are preparing food should not handle or receive money. 12.45 pm

ESTIMATES OF EXPENDITURE FOR THE - FINANCIAL YEAR 1ST APRIL, 1995 TO 31ST MARCH, 1996 Sir, since we have sufficient time, may I seek your permission to take the two cuts, ie, waste minimisation and hawker control?

ESTIMATES OF EXPENDITURE FOR THE - FINANCIAL YEAR 1ST APRIL, 1995 TO 31ST MARCH, 1996 You have only one cut.

ESTIMATES OF EXPENDITURE FOR THE - FINANCIAL YEAR 1ST APRIL, 1995 TO 31ST MARCH, 1996 I missed the earlier cut on waste minimisation. I was held up slightly just now.

ESTIMATES OF EXPENDITURE FOR THE - FINANCIAL YEAR 1ST APRIL, 1995 TO 31ST MARCH, 1996 You were late for the first cut.

ESTIMATES OF EXPENDITURE FOR THE - FINANCIAL YEAR 1ST APRIL, 1995 TO 31ST MARCH, 1996 I was held up by a phone call.

ESTIMATES OF EXPENDITURE FOR THE - FINANCIAL YEAR 1ST APRIL, 1995 TO 31ST MARCH, 1996 Yes, carry on.

ESTIMATES OF EXPENDITURE FOR THE - FINANCIAL YEAR 1ST APRIL, 1995 TO 31ST MARCH, 1996 Thank you, Sir. Sir, rapid economic development and an increasingly affluent population have brought about a corresponding rise in the amount of waste generated. In 1994, about 2.4 million tonnes of waste were disposed of, representing about 9% growth compared to the previous year. Waste disposal is costly, especially in land scarce Singapore. The present Lorong Halus landfill site is expected to be used up by 1998. The new landfill site at Pulau Semakau will cost us about $1.2 billion. At the rate refuse is growing, we will probably need a fourth incineration plant in three to four years' time. It will cost us another $800-$900 million. It is therefore important for us to have an effective waste minimisation programme so as to reduce the burden of waste disposal on ourselves. Industrial and commercial waste forms about 50% of the waste generated. We should encourage companies to minimise waste by systematic waste audits. Waste audits can help companies to minimise the use of raw materials and energy, and to reduce, recycle and reuse waste. In the context of waste recycling, "waste exchange" is an option that deserves serious consideration. What is waste to one industry may be raw materials to another. Through cooperative and mutually beneficial "waste exchange" schemes, substantial cost savings can be accrued to the companies concerned. I would therefore like to know what measures the Ministry has taken to actively promote both waste audits and waste exchange to reduce industrial and commercial waste. Sir, domestic and trade waste forms the other 50% of the waste generated. Minimising this type of waste is perhaps a more difficult task because we have become a consumer society. Some even say that we are a throw-away society. There is therefore an urgency for us to make every effort to encourage Singaporeans to consume less and recycle more. I notice that there is presently over 900 recycling schemes in schools, condominiums, housing estates, offices and hotels throughout Singapore. I wonder how successful they are. What is encouraging and has attracted the attention of the media recently is the success of a waste-paper recycling project by the Bishan-Serangoon Town Council. My colleague, Mr Ibrahim Othman has mentioned this. The project was successful because it combined recycling and charity. It shows that with innovative ideas, recycling projects can be successful. If the success can be duplicated throughout other parts of Singapore, then we will have made significant progress in shaping public attitudes positively towards waste minimisation and recycling. Does the Ministry plan to do that? Sir, food waste forms a large part of our domestic waste. At the moment, this type of organic waste is disposed of together with other non-organic waste through refuse chutes in housing estates. Because food waste decays and decays very quickly in our climate, it causes smell problem in the chute, at the collection point and the bin centre. Food waste also dirties our estates when it is disposed of and collected. As our society progresses, Singaporeans aspire to a better standard of living, we should consider disposing our food waste through an electric grinder attached to the kitchen sink. I believe my colleague, Mr Charles Chong, has spoken on this. Food waste can then be discharged as pulp and liquid through pipes into our underground sewage system. This will get rid of the rotten smell from our estates and enhance its cleanliness. It will also greatly reduce the amount of domestic waste which will otherwise have to be collected and disposed of. Will the Ministry consider implementing such a food waste disposal system? Sir, I now go on to the issue of hawker control. The primary objective of privatising hawker stalls is to make hawkers owner of their stalls so that hawker stalls can be run more efficiently. Hawkers welcome this ownership scheme. However, those who were not included in the first phase sale programme are concerned that stall prices in the subsequent phases will go up substantially. If the stall price translated into monthly payment is much higher than their current monthly rental, hawkers will have difficulty to adjust overnight and run the stall in such a way that it will make up for the increase in cost. The stall price may also be so high that it may not be worthwhile for them to purchase their stall and resell it to another person. There will therefore be no incentive for them to purchase their stall, thus defeating the purpose of privatisation. There is also concern from the general public that higher stall prices will result in higher hawker food prices. Will the Minister therefore speed up the sale of hawker stalls and ensure that stall prices will not be too high for hawkers to want to own their stall?

ESTIMATES OF EXPENDITURE FOR THE - FINANCIAL YEAR 1ST APRIL, 1995 TO 31ST MARCH, 1996 Sir, with effect from 1st April, the rental and service and conservancy charges for hawker and market stalls under Environment, HDB and JTC will be increased. The quantum of the increase for rental of cooked food stalls will be $40 whereas for market stalls, the increase will be $20 more. Service and conservancy charges will also be increased by a quantum of $5 to $17. About 20,000 stalls will be affected. The reason given by the Ministry was that the costs of maintaining these centres have increased. The Ministry further added that even with this increase, the rental and service and conservancy charges are still very much below market rates. Sir, my concern is that this announcement will lead to further price increase by the hawkers. If one out of five hawker stalls can increase prices during GST period, using GST as an excuse, I do not see what is stopping them to use this raise in rental and S&C charges to increase their prices further. For those who have withheld the temptation to increase their prices during the GST period, this may be their last straw. I have no doubt that this raise will provide hawkers with a ready excuse to increase their prices by an even bigger quantum. This increase will be passed on to the majority of Singaporeans who shop at the wet markets and lunch or dine out at the hawker centres. There will be repercussions affecting the Singaporean households, working population and, worse, the retirees. For a long time, our wet markets and hawker centres have provided low cost food, cooked or uncooked, to Singaporeans. They have helped to keep our expenses on food low. Therefore, why can the Government not continue to subsidise the rental and S&C charges for hawker and market stalls? After all, this raise will only bring in about $1 million more to help defray partially the costs of running these centres. So why can the Government not absorb this amount and help to reduce the burden on the people? Sir, in addition, the Government is progressively selling hawker stalls back to the operators. I understand that four hawker centres and wet markets have already been sold. What is the situation now? May I also ask the Minister whether his Ministry is monitoring the price increases in these hawker centres?

ESTIMATES OF EXPENDITURE FOR THE - FINANCIAL YEAR 1ST APRIL, 1995 TO 31ST MARCH, 1996 Sir, like my two colleagues, I wish to ask the Minister whether there has been any substantial price increase in food prices by stallholders who have purchased their stalls. I also wish to ask for the number of stalls that has changed owners after they have purchased from the Government. How many of these stalls are designated for selling Muslim food and halal market produce? And how many of them has been redesignated to sell non-Muslim food and non-halal market produce?

ESTIMATES OF EXPENDITURE FOR THE - FINANCIAL YEAR 1ST APRIL, 1995 TO 31ST MARCH, 1996 Sir, I share the concern by Mr Teo about the increase in rental by the Ministry of the Environment, Housing and Development Board and JTC. While I understand why rental has to be increased, I would like to comment on the manner in which the price is being increased. I remember Mr Dhanabalan, the then Minister for National Development, had explained the rationale for pricing HDB flats according to location. I think this same rationale should be applied to rental stalls in hawker centres. In the recent sale of hawker stalls, the stalls were valued from $38,000 to $168,000, depending on their locations. For those hawkers who have applied to sell their stalls, profits were estimated to be between $34,000 and $110,000. Therefore, the rentals of hawker stalls in different locations should similarly be varied to reflect the volume of business as well as the pricing of the goods. There must be a difference in value for hawker stalls located in a more popular location than those in outlying neighbourhoods. In this regard, the Ministry of the Environment should take into consideration the hardship of hawkers who can barely cope with arrears due to either insufficient business volume or remoteness of location. Therefore, I propose that the Ministry of the Environment should consider a scale of charges for rentals of hawker stalls at different hawker centres and different locations.

ESTIMATES OF EXPENDITURE FOR THE - FINANCIAL YEAR 1ST APRIL, 1995 TO 31ST MARCH, 1996 Sir, despite the Ministry of the Environment's ample public education programmes warning the people of the danger of dengue fever as well as measures taken to wipe out the Aedes mosquitoes, the number of cases of dengue fever reported has not declined. On the contrary, it has been on the increase. In 1993, there were 946 reported cases. In 1994, the figure climbed to 1,239. This is indeed cause for concern. Sir, dengue-prone areas have been identified and curative and preventive measures taken to rid the plague, yet the Environment Ministry seems to be fighting a losing battle. Why so? Why do we seem to be fighting a losing battle? The question, in my mind, is: Have we done enough? Or maybe our approach is found wanting. I would like therefore to call for a concerted effort by all, to get down to the root of the problem, and find a means to eradicate this deadly disease once and for all, if it is humanly possible. 1.00 pm In my opinion, resorting to a once-off clean up of infected areas is not the ultimate solution. Apart from stepping up the inspections of dengue-prone areas like construction sites and drains by Environment officers, and taking deterrent measures against irresponsible people contributing to the spread of the disease, I feel that a more comprehensive approach may be the answer. For example, the grassroots organisations, the town councils, the HDB and even the civic organisations should all be lending a hand to eradicate this deadly disease. The schools too should participate in this important task. Maybe talks on the danger of dengue fever can be given at school assemblies.