Govt to cut ministerial salaries and fees
SINGAPORE: SINGAPORE may be cutting ministerial salaries as an inflation-taming measure. In addition, government fees will also be cut.
A government spokesperson disclosed this yesterday in response to media queries on what steps the Government could take to alleviate the impact of rising prices.
He said: 'Government fees, although their going up is justified, will be cut indefinitely.
"Where it is within our control, we will cut whatever needs to be cut. Our ministers are already the best paid in the world, they can live with a few hundred thousand less a year."
Consumer price inflation in Singapore hit 6.5 per cent last month from a year ago. In particular, food prices have gone up sharply.
In addition, Woodleigh MRT station will be opened finally, and all trains will run with one-minute intervals during peak hours, and three-minute intervals during off-peak hours. Public transport will no longer be treated as a primarily profit-driven commercial enterprise but a real public service. The rail operators will also not be allowed to raise their fees for three years or pass any costs from fines to their customers.
This was revealed in the Land Transport Masterplan by the Land Transport Authority.
"As part of our people-centred land transport system, we want to end the overcrowding and long waits. No more overcrowded trains and buses, and unnecessary feeder buses!" an LTA spokesperson said.
ERP rates will be cut next month, by as much as 50%. This is in response to motorist feedback on roads where the ERP has not eased congestion in any way. Some gantries may even be dismantled.
Bicycles, previously ignored as a means of transport, will be given dedicated bike lanes where possible, and sharrows where it is not practical to have a bike lane.
The LTA has acknowledged that cycling is more than a leisure or recreational activity but is an environmentally sound mode of transport, and a healthy one too.
"We plan to make it safe for cyclists to ride again, instead of making piecemeal measures towards bicycle and pedestrian safety. We will no longer be using Singapore's land constraints or hot weather as an excuse to ignore this growing group of road users. One more cyclist may mean one less car on the road, you know?" said a spokesperson.
The measures were also introduced to reduce the dangerous practice of pedestrian sidewalk cycling, the spokesman told us.
Lift and estate upgrading will be carried out for all estates, regardless of whether they belong to the ruling party or the opposition. The government has accelerated this program in order to stimulate the economy and because there is a real need for lifts, especially for the elderly.
"An elderly person in an Opposition estate is still an elderly person," said a government spokesperson.
Oh, and Happy April Fools' Day.
