7/15/2009

AG office unhappy with govt depts

Lax procedures and inefficiency have resulted in money not collected or contracts awarded not at lowest cost or for convenience. This is intriguing given the quality and number of supertalents hired and paid so well. It is basic to buy services or products at the lowest cost unless the provider or product is substandard. The AG Report highlighted that the MOE could save between $1m to $15m if the cleaning services were awarded to contractors who quoted lower than market rate. Fair comment. But why are the words HDB, market pricing and water conservation tax keep popping up in my mind? The govt should be run as efficiently and profitably as possible. The business principles of buying cheap, below market prices, and selling high, at market prices or better, must be adopted by all ministries. Run it as a profitable business. Make as much money as the market can pay from the consumers. Who are the consumers?

4 comments:

  1. Someone should audit the AG's report and say that cheapest doesn't mean the best.

    My 3 room HDB block is a real shame.Corridors are swept only once a week. Rubbish chutes are overflowing. Lifts reek of urine, stale urine because it's only cleaned few days apart. Paint is peeling from the walls. Water is dripping from pipes. Telephone wires dangling willy wally. Flyers advertising posh condos in Districts 9,10 and other heavenly places strewn all over the void deck. O$P$ scrawls by our friendly neighbourhood loan sharks on the staircase walls not erased. How did I manage to live in this garbage dump for 30 years?

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  2. Main logical fallacy (there are others) by redbean:

    False Analogy

    > The govt should be run as efficiently and profitably as possible. [...] Who are the consumers? <

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  3. hi wally,

    what happens to your ah peh and ah ma cleaning brigade? it is time you take control of the situation and show them what leadership is all about man.

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  4. AS I am selling my garbage dump "place in the sun" soon, I don't think it's right for me to "take control of the situation" and upset the natural ecology and "ambience" of the block.

    However, rest assured that when I go to my new 1 room rental home in a downtrodden and near hell part of Singapore, I will use whatever energy I have left after the forex and the stock market activities to lead the underprivileged and the forgotten to a new dawn in gracious living. We will transform our block to as near the Swiss standard of living as possible and shut up those who scoff at us who live in a 1 room rental flat as the Lost Citizens. Last remark with apologies to our good friend and fellow commentator of your blog, Mr. Lost Citizen.

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