Movement for change We need to change the way that Singapore is governed
We have a dysfunctional system under the leadership of Lee HL. We need to change the way that Singapore is governed.

I add another example of my experience. 

My utilities bill jumped up from a monthly average of $300 to $550. The increase was due to an excessive consumption of water. 

We have been using water carefully. There was no change in the water consumption during the previous month.

The Public Utilities Board came to check and declared that there was a leakage in the house. They left a letter giving a list of 15 licensed plumbers that I have to contact. I am also required to report back to PUB that the leakage has been solved.

I sent SMS and WhatsApp messages to 10 plumbers. Three replied. One said that they do not do detection of leakage. Another quoted a fee of $1,500. The third quoted $145 plus GST but did not reply to follow up call to clarify if this fee includes rectification. 

The other 7 contractors did not reply to SMS or WhatsApp. They appear to be uninterested.

I wondered why PUB was not more helpful. They could have asked these contractors to include the scope of work and the indicative fee.

Instead, they expect every house owner to go through this hassle, and be subject to rip off by some unscrupulous contractors. 

The letter did indicate that we should ask for a few quotations before engaging the contractor. This suggest that other house owners may have been over charged. 

Is this how PUB responded to the past complaints. Can they not find a better way to handle this issue?

It is clear to me that the work involved two steps. The first step is to identify the cause of the leakage. This should be quite a standard scope of work for which a fee of $145 (indicated by a contractor) would be reasonable.

The second step is to rectify the problem, which could be simple or complicated. The simple rectification could be covered by the initial scope.

I finally managed to get a plumber (have not checked if he has a PUB license) to identify the source of the leakage. He told me that in most cases, it was caused by a leakage cistern in the toilet. He had encountered many such instances with old apartments and houses. 

I thought that it was not possible, as my house was occupied and any leakage in the cistern would be obvious.

He came and inspected the cisterns. One of the was indeed leaking. It was not noticeable to the lay person. As the cistern was an old model, it could not be repaired as the parts were not available. The cost of replacing the toilet bowl would be $350. I found this to be fair.

I come back to the dysfunctional system that I complained about earlier. Surely, PUB would have found a better solution to solve a problem that is quite standard. 

LHL - are you listening?

Tan Kin Lian 

Vote - do you agree that we need to change the way that Singapore is governed?




 

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