The Workers' Party (WP) has reached out to the managing agents in Pasir Ris-Punggol and Ang Mo Kio town council regarding the takeover of the new Sengkang town council.

Leader of WP's Sengkang GRC team He Tingru confirmed this in a July 12 press conference, adding that further details, regarding the timeline of this transition, will be shared later on.

Preference for standalone town council

A new town council will be established by WP's Sengkang team, following their victory in the recent general election.

"We're started our meetings, we started talking to the various people to make sure that you know, there's a seamless handover," He said.

The Ministry of National Development (MND) has guidelines on the handover of town councils should there be electoral boundary changes, reconstitution of towns, or a change in political parties.

Speaking to the media, WP chief Pritam Singh said that they will avail themselves to whatever guidelines that the ministry has put out, and work with the managing agents for this.

He also said that there is a preference for a standalone town council to be established, because they believe Sengkang has the "economies of scale" for this.

Current contractors will still continue to do their work

After election results were first announced on Friday (July 10), Pritam told reporters that current contractors will still continue to do their work and existing contracts will continue to run, Straits Times reported.

He also referenced the WP's takeover of the Aljunied Town Council in 2011, saying that the experience should "make (them) wiser as to how (they) should manage a handover".

Until the handover is complete, however, Pritam reiterated on July 12 that Sengkang residents can contact their existing town council in the interim period, should they have queries on infrastructure, cleanliness or pest control.

When the new town council takes over management, Pritam said that the MP-elects would then issue a statement or press conference to announce details to residents.

He also declined to comment on who the chairman of this new town council would be, saying that it's still "early" and this information would be made known in the future.

Top photo via He Tingru/FB