Sunday, March 12, 2017

Minister Boon Wan says "Government subsidizing public transport unsustainable" : Yet another lies

The lies of Boon Wan

CNA reported as below.

While the Government will continue to inject heavy subsidies into the public transport system, the current model of taxpayers bearing more of the fiscal burden is not sustainable, said Transport Minister Khaw Boon Wan in Parliament on Wednesday (Mar 8). 

Speaking at his ministry’s Committee of Supply debate, Mr Khaw stressed on the need to strike a “fair balance” in the proportion of transport costs that will be borne by commuters, taxpayers and operators. 

Amid the push for a "car-lite" Singapore by 2030, Mr Khaw noted that the significant improvements to the country’s public transport network require high capital investments and will incur higher operating costs. 

The Government is also topping up a “huge deficit” under the new Bus Contracting Model, which states that it is now responsible for buying and replacing buses.
“We pay bus operators a fee to run the bus services. Although fare revenue goes to the Government, it is not enough to cover operating costs,” Mr Khaw said. Over the next five years, the Government expects to subsidise public bus services by nearly S$4 billion, he added. 

Likewise under the transition to the New Rail Financing Framework, the Government expects to spend S$4 billion over the next five years. This excludes the S$20 billion that will be spent to build new public transport infrastructure, according to the Transport Minister. 

As costs rise over the years, Mr Khaw said fares have not kept up and taxpayers have had to subsidise more and more of these operating costs.
“This is clearly not sustainable,” he said. “We must ensure that the fiscal burden does not become too excessive for taxpayers.”


Singaporeans are subsidizing the government on public transport instead

The main reason PAP built MRT can be found in "A Mandarin and the Making of Public Policy", the memoir of elite civil servant Ngiam Tong Dow. Ngiam stated that MRT system, by providing easy access to suburban Singapore, would in itself raise property value... The increased value of properties...to yield the $5 billion required to build the first MRT east-west lines.

In reality, while public transport is almost a money losing venture by itself, but elites and government have made scandalous profit by peddling adjacent property, more than enough to cover the infrastructure and operating cost.

Without MRT to the CBD, land there would not have fetch the astronomical value.

New MRT planning benefits businesses and elites, harms Singaporeans



Recently, PAP mooted building two express MRT network bypassing all or most stations. The O&D are CBD to Changi Airport, running the Thomson-East Coast Line, and future high speed rail station to Changi Airport, on the Cross Island Line. This certainly provides convenience to business, expat, or transit visitors.

PAP is also considering axing, the existing MRT link between Singapore Expo and Changi Airport, on the East West Line, which is the main artery for peasant commuters.

Meanwhile, PAP does not even spare a thought that on the need of express train for Singaporeans domiciled in the East, to places like Tuas or NTU for the East West Line. Much man-hours are wasted on the MRT, that need to stop on all stations.

Where is our monies?

Having raking in billions in land sales from us, thanks to the asset enhancement bring forth by constructing MRT, PAP is telling us, Singaporeans are bankrupting the government.

We will have enough monies for everything if government does thing like cutting back the salaries -- not just the minister, but the runaway remuneration of entire public service, among many others.

Tuesday, March 7, 2017

Singapore home vacancy rate among world highest: Financialization of housing


Vacancy rate as percentage

Singapore home vacancy is among the highest in developed countries, according to Zerohedge. URA statistic shown that our private property vacancy rate is at 8.4% at 4Q2016. The huge vacancy rate could be due to absentee landlord, or developer not willing to lower prices to sell the property.

Singapore is a special case with substantial government housing, which is bench marked to a certain percentage point lower than private property. But skyrocketed government housing has raided Singaporeans' pension funds, in addition of resulting to one of lowest fertility rate in the planet. The PAP government then blames the citizen for not wanting to procreate and uses this as a  pretext to flood Singapore with foreigners.



Home vacancy rate -- a financial abuse of human rights

The world’s money markets have priced people out of cities, a United Nations independent expert has said, blaming financial markets and speculators for treating housing as a “place to park capital.”

“Housing has lost its social function and is seen instead as a vehicle for wealth and asset growth. It has become a financial commodity, robbed of its connection to community, dignity and the idea of home,” said Leilani Farha, the Special Rapporteur on the right to housing.

“The financial world has essentially operated without any consideration of housing as a human right and States are complicit: they have supported financial markets in a way that has made housing affordable for most residents,” Ms. Farha said.

Total number of houses vacant

Can Singapore private property be lower?

This is equivalent of asking will the rich want to loss their wealth. If the rich do not want to suffer financial losses due to asset depreciation, no way Singaporeans will have reasonable access to private property -- unless there is a financial crisis.

Moreover, when 1% owns roughly 90% all over the world, every single peasant will be priced out of housing without government intervention.

The city of Paris has decided it’s had enough, and implemented a tax in 2015. They didn’t quite get the results they wanted, so they’re now tripling the tax to 60%.

Singapore government certainly has a long way to go, in view of what the French government is doing. Meanwhile, our real estate keep clamoring for more relax regulations of property.