Centralised system to monitor lift performance

• QX179R

  14 Jan 17, 22:01

  Centralised system to monitor lift, contractor performance across PAP town councils

  SINGAPORE: A group of People’s Action Party (PAP) town council members, lift engineers, and specialists is developing a centralised system to monitor lift and contractor performance across all 15 PAP town councils. 

  
  

  Currently, each town council monitors the performance of lifts in their area.

  
  

  The new system is being developed amid calls for greater scrutiny of lift standards following a spate of lift-related injuries in recent years. One lift contractor, Sigma, has been barred from new HDB projects due to delays and a higher-than-usual breakdown rate.

  
  

  PAP Town Council Co-ordinating Chairman Teo Ho Pin said on Saturday (Jan 14) that the new system will monitor lift breakdowns, response times, the state of repairs, and user feedback, among other issues.

  
  

  Speaking at a grassroots event, Dr Teo said the PAP lift task force is working closely with town councils to develop the system, and also to collate data like lift age and lift performance. This information could be shared among the town councils and with the Housing and Development Board (HDB) for the future procurement of new lifts as well as bulk maintenance contracts, he said.

  
  

  “The various town councils have different portfolios of lifts, different age groups,” Dr Teo said. “And what's important is to look at the performance of those lifts. Based on the performance plus the age, we will work out a programme to roll out over the next five years."

  
  

  “We are paying very close attention to those lifts which break down very frequently - we call them 'chronic lifts’,” he added.

  
  

  Channel NewsAsia understands that the system is currently a work in progress, and there are no confirmed dates for when it will be ready.

  
  

  RECOMMENDATIONS RELEASED TO TOWN COUNCILS IN DECEMBER: TASK FORCE

  
  

  The task force, which is led by Dr Teo, was formed in 2016 to review the design, maintenance and use of lifts in Singapore, amid a rise in the number of lift-related incidents. It released a set of recommendations to the town councils in December, which includes, among other things, installing a 24/7 surveillance system and communication devices in lifts. 

  
  

  The 15 PAP town councils have committed a total of S$45 million over the next five years to implement the recommendations. On the same day, the Workers' Party-run Aljunied-Hougang Town Council (AHTC) said it planned to spend S$17.5 million over the next five years to upgrade and replace lifts under its care.

  
  

  On Saturday, Dr Teo told Channel NewsAsia that the group met earlier in the week to discuss the various lift safety programmes and measures – the first meeting since the release of the recommendations. He added that they were also awaiting details from the Ministry of National Development regarding the S$450 million Lift Enhancement Programme – in which the HDB will fund about 90 per cent of a town council’s required costs to install several features in lifts. These features include light curtains, and a switch that stops a lift whenever the doors are open. They were recommended by the Building and Construction Authority.

  
  

  Some 20,000 lifts are expected to be upgraded as part of the programme, which will be carried out over 10 years.

  
  

  "We have not received any news from the ministry yet, but based on our collection of data, most of the 15 town councils are eligible for the lift enhancement programme,” Dr Teo said.

  
  

  In the meantime, Dr Teo said all PAP town councils have initiated talks with the lift companies to identify the features to be installed, the current performance of the affected lifts, the cost of installing the features, as well as the phasing of the installation work.”

  
  

  He added that at least 4,000 more closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras will be installed in lifts belonging to those town councils by early 2018.

  
  

  - CNA/lc
• FireIce

  3 Feb 17, 00:13

  Town councils to get over S$63m a year to maintain, replace lifts

   

  The Government will be increasing funding for town councils to maintain and replace lifts in public housing blocks through two new grants announced on Thursday (Feb 2).

  The grants, worth over S$63 million a year, will increase government funding for town councils to over S$220 million a year.

  Town councils welcomed the Ministry of National Development’s (MND) announcement on Thursday, with two town council chairmen saying that the new grants will ease the pressure to increase service and conservancy charges (S&CC) in the coming year.

  The Lift Maintenance Grant will provide town councils with S$600 per lift that is owned and maintained by the town councils to help them cope with higher servicing and maintenance costs, and this will cost the government S$13 million a year.

  The Matching Grant for the Lift Replacement Fund that town councils will have to set up from April will see the MND matching 50 per cent of the town councils’ quarterly contributions. It is expected to cost more than S$50 million in the coming year, and the ministry said the grant amount is likely to increase as town councils build up their Lift Replacement Funds over time. Under the fund, town councils must set aside at least 14 per cent of their S&CC collections and government grants from April.

  Lift accidents in recent years, including one that was fatal, have cast the spotlight on lift safety and reliability and the Building and Construction Authority had introduced tougher lift maintenance requirements last year.

  The new grants will “definitely help the People’s Action Party Town Councils to enhance the safety and performance of the lifts”, said Dr Teo Ho Pin, coordinating chairman of the ruling party’s town councils. The grants will pay for part of the lift maintenance and replacement costs, but Dr Teo said that with “over 22,000 lifts operating 24/7 in the 15 PAP town councils”, rising maintenance costs remain challenging.

  Pasir Ris-Punggol Town Council chairman Zainal Sapari said that before Thursday’s announcement, an increase in service and conservancy charges was needed. “We have made our projections and we really need more funds, especially our sinking fund, in order to do cyclical maintenance,” said Mr Zainal, who is Member of Parliament for Pasir Ris-Punggol GRC. “With (the new) grants, we need to relook at it and perhaps the increase will not be as much compared to without the grants.”

  Marine Parade Town Council chairman Lim Biow Chuan said an increase in S&CC was “very likely” before the two grants were announced, and it would now review its financial situation again. The need to “ringfence” funds under the Lift Replacement Fund would hurt the town council’s finances quite a bit, and Mr Lim, who is MP for Mountbatten, said town councils’ appeals to the MND for help “got louder”.

  MP and Nee Soon Town Council chairman Louis Ng said it would work the grants into its projections and “see how it’ll help in the long term”. He said there are new Build To Order flats coming up, as well as lifts whose defects liability period will be expiring in the town council.

  Last September, the Government said it would provide S$450 million over 
10 years to town councils under the Lift Enhancement Programme, through which the Housing and Development Board would co-fund about 90 per cent of town councils’ cost of retrofitting older lifts with safety features and enhancements found in newer lifts. That amount, together with the two new grants, will double the Government’s funding to town councils. Its other funding support is through the S&CC operating grant (S$100 million a year) and Goods and Services Tax subvention grant (S$20 million a year).

  Town councils have the responsibility to manage and maintain common property in public housing estates and need to do their part to plan ahead and take appropriate steps to ensure sustainable long-term finances, MND reiterated.

   

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