A scheme that makes computers and broadband connectivity more affordable for needy people with disabilities and students has been enhanced to benefit more people.

Minister for Communications and Information Yaacob Ibrahim yesterday announced two changes to eligibility criteria for the Infocomm Development Authority’s (IDA’s) NEU PC Plus scheme.

It offers beneficiaries new computers with three years of free broadband access, at a cost subsidised by up to 75 per cent.

From Sept 1, the monthly household income cap will be raised from $3,000 to $3,400.

This is expected to benefit another 5,000 families over five years.

In addition, special education (Sped) students on the Ministry of Education’s Sped Financial Assistance Scheme will automatically qualify for the subsidies.

Other criteria have also been tweaked to help more low-income families.

For applicants who cannot afford to pay even after the discount, they currently can earn their computers by doing community service such as sorting books at school libraries.

The monthly household income cap to qualify for this will also be raised from $2,300 to $2,500 from Sept 1.

Dr Yaacob was the guest of honour at Enable Empower Connect (E² Connect), an inaugural forum to raise awareness of the positive impact of technology on the daily lives of people with disabilities.

Speaking at the event at the Enabling Village in Lengkok Bahru, he said: “As policymakers, our role is to provide the infrastructure and policies to create a more inclusive environment.

“This means finding ways in which technology can help to improve our processes and services, making technology accessible to those who need it, and ensuring that persons with dis-abilities can afford devices that suit their needs.”

Since NEU PC Plus was launched in 2006, more than 27,000 low-income families with students or people with disabilities have benefited.

goyshiyi@sph.com.sg

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Dressed in black jackets and riding black motorcycles, these “bikers” give motorists a shock when they turn on their lights and sirens and reveal their true identities.

The covert officers have been on their bikes since last month in the latest attempt by the Traffic Police (TP) to clamp down on road offenders – particularly errant motorcyclists.

TP commander Sam Tee said it was not easy for officers to go after motorcyclists in unmarked cars, as they can lose sight of them in heavy traffic.

But the 900cc “stealth bikes” are much more manoeuvrable.

“Our strategy has evolved, we are matching vehicle type for vehicle type,” said Senior Assistant Commissioner Tee.

Bikers are an area of concern.

TP statistics show that last year, 4,875 motorcyclists and pillion riders were injured, a 5 per cent rise on 2014.

This group comprised almost half of all road deaths last year – 72 out of a total of 152.

To address the problem, the TP have increased enforcement to target what they call a “small minority” of motorists who misbehave.

In their first month of operations, TP’s stealth motorcycles detected over 700 violations – including offences ranging from using a mobile phone while riding to reckless riding.

Covert operations – which also include offences detected by unmarked cars – booked 2,653 violations in the first six months of this year, up from 1,048 in the same period last year.

When The Straits Times accompanied the TP’s Special Operations Team on their stealth bikes yesterday, virtually all those caught seem surprised when pulled over.

Senior Staff Sergeant Pardeep Dass, 31, said: “They always imagine TP officers are in white uniforms, but once they see us in full gear, they know we are police officers and comply.”

dansonc@sph.com.sg

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Auditors of Workers’ Party-run Aljunied-Hougang Town Council (AHTC) have found “pervasive control failures” in its accounts and work processes over the past five years.

These weaknesses cover key areas of governance, financial control, financial reporting, procurement and records management.

In a report yesterday, KPMG also found that the town council’s management lapses went beyond individual issues and were a systemic problem.

The auditors recommended that town councillors “reset the tone at the top of AHTC” to emphasise competence and accountability.

The report, released by AHTC on Wednesday night, is the fourth monthly report by KPMG, which the town council had hired to look into its books following significant lapses in governance flagged by its own auditors and the Auditor-General’s Office in a special audit report in February 2015.

It marks the completion of KPMG’s recommendations on steps AHTC has to take to set right weaknesses flagged in those earlier reports.

AHTC chairman Pritam Singh said the town council accepts all the recommendations in full, and its MPs “will immediately lead an exercise to review the key areas of governance, financial control, financial reporting, procurement and records management”.

In its July report, KPMG identified another 70 “control failures”.

These are on top of the 115 failures already found by the Auditor-General’s Office and the town council’s statutory auditors last year.

Among the most glaring lapses uncovered was AHTC’s use of 18 temporary clearing accounts, that together contained a total of more than one million transactions at a value of over $648,000.

KPMG said such accounts should be used only on a short-term basis but investigation and clearance of these transactions were not done prior to the review.

Clearing these transactions is now a “major task” that is estimated to take a year to resolve.

Another major lapse it found was extensive use of manual journal entries to record payments to third parties, which avoid records being entered into accounts payable and thus circumvents financial controls. There were over 48,500 of such manual entries used to record payments of more than $60 million from 2011 to 2015.

“This highly irregular short-cut makes effective oversight of payments by the Finance Department practically impossible,” said the report. “Such large-scale use of this practice raises questions about the management of AHTC’s financial function.”

KPMG found that AHTC’s accounts payable module was not regularly reviewed, and might contain inaccuracies which could be exploited to initiate or conceal fraudulent payments.

Among the payables outstanding for more than three years, KPMG found a 2012 vendor invoice for $52,000 that was recorded twice.

In a statement, AHTC chairman Singh said AHTC will review the work processes of the town council to strengthen controls. It has also called a tender for a new town council accounting system and will appoint an internal auditor to ensure management, governance and control processes are working.

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SINGAPORE – The upcoming Thomson-East Coast Line (TEL) could be lengthened to provide a direct train link between the city and Changi Airport. Transport Minister Khaw Boon Wan revealed yesterday that the Government is studying the feasibility of extending the 43km MRT line, which is expected to open in stages from 2019 to 2024.

“It would provide a direct connection from the airport to the city,” he said during a groundbreaking ceremony to mark the start of works for TEL’s East Coast stretch.

MRT commuters currently have to transfer to an airport shuttle service at Tanah Merah station on the East-West Line.

Plans to extend the TEL were considered by the Land Transport Authority (LTA) as early as three years ago.

If they materialise, the TEL will carry on from its last eastern stop, at Sungei Bedok, to the future Terminal 5 and the existing Changi Airport station that serves terminals 1 to 3, and Terminal 4 which opens next year.

The LTA said if the extension is given the green light, it will come into operation “in tandem” with T5, which will be completed in the second half of the 2020s.

Studies will also look into linking the proposed 50km Cross-Island Line (CRL) to T5 and the new industrial zone serving the airport.

Mr Khaw said this would complement the future high-speed rail (HSR) link between Kuala Lumpur and Singapore, as the CRL will be linked to the HSR’s Jurong East terminus.

“Potentially, you can, if you want, have a traveller from KL Sentral travel all the way on HSR (and MRT) to Changi Airport and vice versa,” he said.

Singapore-Malaysia ink landmark High Speed Rail MOU

Click on thumbnail to view photos. Source: 

The Straits Times

On Tuesday, Singapore and Malaysia signed a memorandum of understanding for the 350km HSR. It will bring commuters to KL in 90 minutes, when it is launched in 2026.

Mr Khaw, who also announced the start of construction for the East Coast Integrated Depot and the Downtown Line 3 extension (DTL3e) to Sungei Bedok, said extending the TEL and CRL would allow commuters “to get from all parts of the island to the airport with no more than one transfer”.

While construction of the 22-station, 30km Thomson stretch of the TEL is already in full swing, yesterday’s groundbreaking kicked off works for the East Coast segment, made up of nine stations along a 13km stretch.

The entire East Coast stretch is being built on reclaimed land and this poses a challenge, said LTA’s group director for TEL and CRL, Ng Kee Nam.

“Due to the extremely soft seabed underlying the reclaimed land”, he explained, the earth-retaining walls will go underground to 60m – the height of 20 storeys, instead of the typical 25m.

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