Managing agent for Sengkang Town Council cites labour issues for not putting in new tender bid

The contract of the current managing agent will expire at the end of January 2023.

Matthias Ang | May 19, 2022, 07:10 PM

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A tight labour market has been cited by the current managing agent of Sengkang Town Council (SKTC), EM Services, as the reason why it did not take part in the tender for the management of the town council, CNA reported.

On May 17, SKTC announced that it had not received any bids for a managing agent during a tender exercise in April.

Explaining why it did not participated in the tender, EM Services said it was only managing a part of SKTC and that such management "requires many people".

In addition, the tight labour market means that it is "not easy" to find the right people with the relevant set of skills.

"As such, we have decided to give it a miss for this tender," its CEO, Tony Khoo, was quoted as saying.

Current contract will expire at the end of Jan. 2023

Currently, the Buangkok, Compassvale and Rivervale divisions are managed by EM Services, which will end its contract on Jan. 31, 2023.

Direct management by SKTC of these divisions will then commence.

As for the Anchorvale division, it has been managed by SKTC since Oct. 31, 2021, with its daily operations handled by staff hired directly by the town council.

SKTC said it inherited two managing contracts from its predecessors.

Background on Sengkang GRC and managing agents

The chair of Sengkang Town Council is Sengkang GRC Member of Parliament He Ting Ru.

WP MP Louis Chua is its vice chair.

Another WP MP Jamus Lim is an elected member of the town council.

Sengkang GRC was formed shortly before the General Election in 2020.

There are four wards in the GRC.

The Buangkok, Compassvale and Rivervale divisions were managed by EM Services, under the Pasir Ris-Punggol Town council.

These three wards came under the Pasir Ris-Punggol GRC and Punggol East SMC.

The Anchorvale division was managed by CPG Facilities under the Ang Mo Kio Town Council.

It was previously under Sengkang West SMC.

EM Services is a joint venture between the Housing Board and Keppel Land Limited.

The managing agent manages 10 of Singapore's 17 town councils.

These 10 town councils comprise Sengkang, Sembawang, Marsiling-Yew Tee, Tampines, Pasir Ris-Punggol, East Coast, Jalan Besar, Tanjong Pagar, Holland-Bukit Panjang and West Coast.

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Top photo via Sengkang GRC/Facebook