More cleaners hired in Tampines after cleaning lapses; town council penalises contractor

SINGAPORE - More cleaners have been deployed to Tampines after a newly appointed contractor failed to keep parts of the estate clean due to a lack of workers.

The town council will impose liquidated damages on the contractor - Ban Chuan Trading and Engineering - for these lapses, said town council chairman Baey Yam Keng on May 8.

Mr Baey is also Minister of State for Culture, Community and Youth, and for Transport.

On April 1, Ban Chuan took over cleaning contracts for three out of five divisions in Tampines GRC - Tampines Boulevard, Tampines Central and Tampines North.

Residents told The Straits Times that bins and bulky items subsequently took longer than usual to be cleared.

One resident in Tampines Boulevard, Mr B. Ram Nangina, 63, said items such as cartons and small furniture were left near the letterbox on several occasions in April.

Ms Lena Cheng, 48, who lives in the same estate, also saw canned drinks left on the floor of her void deck on several occasions.

"I think the cleaners are doing their job; it's just that there are people who dump their litter on the floor," the housewife said.

A TikTok post on April 23 showed overflowing bins in the estate, with canned drinks, bottles, cardboard boxes and clothes also strewn around the void deck. But when ST visited the area on May 5, the bins and litter had been cleared. A worker told ST he was hired just last week.

Mr Baey, who is also MP for the area, told ST that the new contractor has "a higher level of migrant worker shortage, which severely affected service delivery in some areas".

This was exacerbated by the outgoing contractors winding down manpower towards the end of their contracts, he said.

He added: "Both scenarios should not have happened. Tampines Town Council is imposing liquidated damages on these contractors for all lapses in their performances." Ban Chuan has since hired temporary cleaners for daily operations, and extra back-up cleaners who are deployed in the evenings to "follow up on any cleaning lapses", Mr Baey said.

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The firm is also working with the town council and Manpower Ministry to expedite the hiring of more workers, who are expected to arrive in the coming weeks.

Mr Baey said that the town council received a higher volume of feedback relating to cleanliness in April. But the number of such reports has started to decrease, he added.

"The town council team will continue to monitor the situation closely and respond promptly to residents' feedback," he said.

He also urged residents to help keep shared spaces clean.

ST has contacted Ban Chuan Trading and Engineering for comment. 

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This article was first published in The Straits Times. Permission required for reproduction.