SM praises cleanest block winner
By
ONE OF the rainbow-striped apartment blocks in Outram Park now wears a new sign beneath its lighted block number.
It reads: "Cleanest Block in Tanjong Pagar".
Mr Goh Chin Wah, a Block 30 tenant, said he was not surprised. "It’s much cleaner than other places," said the 33-year-old cook.
"The residents are good. They don’t litter so much."
Senior Minister Lee Kuan Yew, the MP for the Tanjong Pagar division, yesterday praised the Outram Park residents and cleaners for their award-winning effort, and endorsed the idea of holding the annual contest.
It was the first run by Tanjong Pagar Town Council (TPTC).
"I hope that, year by year, everybody is conscious of the fact that it is to be admired, it is expected, it is desired that we should keep our premises clean, and our surroundings neat, and that it adds to the general well-being of ever-body," he said.
He presented a challenge shield to the residents committee and a $100 voucher to the cleaner, Madam Rajama Konndappan, 46.
In the financial year 1993-94, TPTC spent $4.99 million on cleaning works, or one-quarter of its total operating expenditure.
TPTC general manager Jeffrey Chua said residents’ cooperation could help keep tender prices down when the town council awarded cleaning contracts.
The simple award ceremony came after Mr Lee planted a xanthostemon chrysanthus in front of Block 6, Everton Park.
He then took a quick tour of the Everton Park blocks to speak to shopkeepers and residents. He found them hungry for information about the Housing Board’s upgrading and sale-of-shops plans for the estate.
He told residents that they could hope for an interim upgrading within five years. In 15 to 20 years, however, it was possible that the land could be re-zoned for commercial use and bought over by developers.
Residents would then stand to gain "a very big sum of money", he said. "You’re sitting on precious land...right in the heart of the city."
To shopkeepers, he pointed out that whether they bought their shops from the HDB or sold them to others, they would be enjoying a bonus, thanks to the Government’s discount for sitting tenants.
Acting Minister for National Development Lim Hng Kiang, also an MP of Tanjong Pagar GRC, told reporters that the yet-to-be-announced selling price of the 57 shops would have to reflect their central location, but would also take into account the fact that they had a small direct catchment in Everton Park, of only seven blocks.
Source : The Straits Times, November 7, 1994
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