It’s a good start towards doing our part to lessen the waste we produce, and work towards a greener Earth.
SINGAPORE – Going greener is just a lift ride away.
Residents in Canberra constituency used to haul their recyclables to a bin that could be located a few blocks away. Now, they need only bring them downstairs.
A six-month pilot project now provides for one recycling bin per Housing and Development Board block instead of one for every five blocks.The first of its kind in Singapore, it was launched yesterday by the constituency, the National Environment Agency (NEA) and SembWaste.
It involves about 1,500 units in 14 blocks in Admiralty Drive.
But there is a trade-off – the fortnightly door-to-door collection of recyclable rubbish within the blocks has been suspended for the same period to gauge residents’ willingness to bring their items down for recycling.
Member of Parliament for Sembawang GRC Lim Wee Kiak said he does not expect many complaints. Residents like to get rid of their recyclables as soon as possible, rather than collecting them for two weeks.
“We want to increase the recycling rate. The current (national) rate of 56 per cent is very good, but the target of 60 per cent recycling rate by 2012 is something we all have to work together,” said Dr Lim.
“Some residents complain it’s too far for them to walk (to the bins). So to entice them further, (it’s) better to bring the recycling bins closer.”
Dr Lim said he will push for the project to be a national programme if NEA’s evaluation shows the pilot project to be successful.
An additional 10 bins plus more manpower is now required and these will increase costs by up to 15 per cent, said SembCorp Environment’s senior vice-president for asset management C K Lim.
A corresponding 15 to 20 per cent increase in recyclables is needed to generate more revenue as the company is not charging extra for its service.
For now, one challenge is to educate residents on which items can be recycled.
The bins can be contaminated by food waste which turn all the recyclables into “rubbish”, said Mr Tan Puay Cheow, NEA’s executive engineer for waste minimisation.
Resident Oh Ah Moy, 70, said, “It’s very convenient to have the bins downstairs … (going to the bins) is like exercise.”
Having a recycling bin under each block might also increase their awareness. Mdm Li, a resident for 10 years, did not even know there were such bins in her estate. ALICIA WONG
(via todayonline 11Jan2009)
Tags: Day-to-day Issues
The 5room flats for SkyVille @ Dawson and SkyTerrace @ Dawson and ranges between $532,000-$643,000.
According to HDB estimates, taking a midpoint pricing for the 5room flats, with a median salary of $6,500, the monthly installment over 30 years would be $2,108.
Gross pay: $6,500
Nett pay (after CPF): 0.8*6500 = $5,200
Mortgage payble via CPF = approx $856
Remaining pay (after mortgage): 5200-(2108-856) = $3,948
Going to the extreme end, because only applicants with salaries $8k and below can apply for new HDB flats, the people buying the most expensive HDB flats would be making at most $8k. Monthly installment would be $2,317.
If you have a car, petrol, car installments, insurance and maintenance costs could easily knock off $1,500 from the remaining pay, making it really tight for a family to get by on. Add in a maid to care for the kids, and that’s another $512 gone. The remaining pay has to pay for property tax, conservancy fees, mobile lines, gas/electricity/water, food, cable, holidays etc.
If the family is debt-free (ie. no credit line or credit card loans to pay off, no car installments to pay), the monthly installments are quite still manageable. If laden with huge financial responsibilities, it’s wiser to get a cheaper flat.
What about looking at it from an investment standpoint?
Comparing the Dawson flat prices with recent sales of resale HDB flats at Strathmore Ave, which is right next to the Dawson site, 5room flats sold between $618,000-$750,000. Comparing to Duxton launch prices of $532,000-$643,000, it’s considered getting the flats at a discount, especially with the 5room-loft units.
Pinnacle @ Duxton is the most recent ‘expensive’ project to be completed. There were some left over units after the 1st round of balloting in 2004, and these units were released in 2008. A $439,400 flat rose 47% over the 4.5 years of construction. Imagine what these flats would be worth, with it’s prime location, in 5 years time, when these new flat owners are then eligible to sell off their flats?
So is Dawson worth subscribing for? If you can afford it, and from an investment standpoint, it seems to make sense. But yet on the other hand, it is a gamble if you’re stretching yourself to pay for the flat. HDB prices could always take a tumble if something happens in future.
Tags: Housing, investment
With the standard of living increasing with each very day, flats costing two arms and two legs, it’s no wonder there’s always a long Q outside the various Singapore Pool outlets. As the line from the local movie The Best Bet goes: “有买有希望，没买没希望。” Translated, it just means ‘If you buy, at least there’s hope. If you don’t buy, confirm no hope lar!‘
Recently, a friend of mine migrated to Australia. He told me that in Australia, they’ve taken lottery to a whole new level: You can now buy lottery online, with a just a few clicks! And what’s even more interesting, is that it is not only restricted to Australians, but virtually the whole world. Imagine the amount of revenue collected by the Australian government each year from international gamblers.
I wonder how long it’ll take for Singapore Pools to get online, especially with Singapore on the path to becoming a gambling hub. They already have account phone betting through their ‘Poolz Connect’. Ka-ching! The sweet sound of money rolling into the Government coffers!
I don’t think Singapore’s online lottery will attract much people from around the world though. Our prize pool is too small. Imagine, our lottery only hit amounts as high as $10 million a couple of times a year, whereas Australia’s 2nd January draw is a whopping AUD$30 million, and with weekly lotto draws in the millions! How to compete?
And to encourage people to try them out, the first game is on them. Good marketing I must say. Everything is so streamlined and automated. You pay online, and your winnings are automatically credited into the payment of your choice, which includes paypal.
The odds of being struck by lightning is higher than that of winning the lottery. But the fact that such lotteries exist proves that people would still buy lottery tickets. How much does hope cost? Apparently, hope starts from just $1, and the first one’s on the house!
Tags: Day-to-day Issues, gambling
Basically, Mr Ng was 31 when he ’set his plan in motion’. Initially he was invested in unit trusts. But he had read Robert Kiyosaki’s ‘Rich Dad Poor Dad‘ before, and decided to sell off his unit trusts and in 3 years, manage to acquire enough dividend paying stocks to meet his monthly expenses.
This is what I’m kinda aiming for, though in my case, it’s our monthly mortgages that I wish to cover, because I’m investing with CPF funds. Currently payout from our investments can only cover half the monthly mortgage. Better than nothing I guess.
Imagine though, when it does cover all our mortgage, it’s like getting an already overpriced HDB for just a fraction of it’s cost!
Imagine having a payout from your investments that more than covers your monthly expenses.
Canny investor Ng Wai Chung is in this happy position at the age of 34.
Mr Ng, a senior IT manager – and an author of investment books – achieved this a year ago. But rather than retire, he stays in full-time employment.
His investment income stream is the result of a plan he set in motion three years ago. That was when he decided to sell his investments in unit trusts and buy stocks that pay high dividends.
‘Today, I am able to yield about $24,000 a year on my investment portfolio, enough to cover my expenses in most months,” he said.
This enviable portfolio consists of real estate investment trusts (Reits) and shares that yield high dividends, such as mainboard-listed Singapore Press Holdings (SPH). Dividends are the portions of profits which a company distributes to shareholders.
Tags: dividends, Housing, investments
In Summary:
“A Home to Call your Own”
- Fully paid HDB flats cannot be mortgaged for a loan
- HDB: Prevent flat owners from losing their flat in the event of a loan default
- Why the different treatment between HDB and other 99 leasehold property?
- Some HDB cost as much as private property
- People these days are more sophisticated
- Is it any different from taking a normal bank loan?
- Time to eases restrictions on flats as loan collateral and let owners decide
“Too Many Risks”
- Most HDB dwellers are low-middle income earners.
- HDB wants to ensure ownership through paid off flats.
- Not much cash equity in flats as most flats are paid with CPF
- What will people do with money unlocked from their flats?
- HDB does have other safer suggestions for flat monetization.
My Views:
I think renting out part of your flat is a much better way to ‘unlock’ your flat’s value then taking out a fresh mortgage. Somehow, “Lehman Brothers” pops to mind. There have been private home owners who have tried to make a killing in the stock market by using their homes as collateral, and end up losing their homes in the end when the market went the other direction.
The other thing that pops to mind is ‘Subprime crisis’. In the US, many home owners took opportunity of their rising home equity and taking out fresh loans based on how much their homes were worth then. Thus instead of having, say, a $200k mortgage, they now have a $250k mortgage, and $50k cash in their pockets. When the property market crashed, many home owners owed more than what their houses were worth, and that $50k cash was long gone.
Yet on the other hand, I’m also for HDB owners being allowed to make their own decisions, and to live by their decisions.
By the way, our HDB flat valuation has risen 15% since we bought it 1.5 years ago. At this rate, our flat price will double in 7 years. Now if only we could unlock that money with a fresh mortgage … $44k in our pockets …. NOT!
Tags: Credit, Housing, investments, on the news
Recent Comments