Sengkang columbarium saga: Govt can simply break contracts whenever they want

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An honorable member of the Coffee Shop Has Just Posted the Following:

SENGKANG COLUMBARIUM SAGA: GOVT CAN SIMPLY BREAK CONTRACTS WHENEVER THEY WANT

Post date:
31 Jan 2015 - 11:55pm









Now that National Development Minister Khaw Boon Wan has promised in Parliament that they will not be building a commercial columbarium at Fernvale Lea, many residents of the new BTO project are relieved.

Nevertheless, some were still uncomfortable with the idea that any Chinese Temple built in the area instead may still have columbarium services which are not “for-profit”.

=> For normal people, once bitten, twice shy. Once conned, never to trust again. But when it comes to 60% dafties, this does not apply.

The residents had become outraged after they found out that an area marked as a site for a Chinese Temple in the BTO brochure was awarded to a private company with no religious links in order to build a columbarium.

The residents created a petition and made enough noise for their grievances to be heard and eventually got their way after their MP and even Minister Khaw Boon Wan heard their concerns.

PAP MP Lam Pin Min had earlier sided with the company awarded the land and the URA which said that it was mentioned in the fine print of the BTO brochure that a columbarium may be built. Now, he hopes the residents are happy with the decision: "With this development, residents' fears should be allayed and there will not be a need to return the flats to HDB," he said.

Currently, the Government is in talks with winning bidder for the land, Eternal Pure Land, to ensure that the land is used for a Chinese temple.

While it is good that the government has chosen to listen to the many complaints and concerns of residents, another issue which now comes to light is the fact that the government appears to have agreed to break a contract which it already awarded to Eternal Pure Land.







Eternal Pure Land, the private company which bid for the land, had intended to build a for-profit temple-cum-columbarium on the site and their tender price, which was $1.2 million above the 2nd highest bidder, reflected this original intention.

For the tender to have been accepted in the first place, it must have stated its intentions, so why wasn’t HDB aware of it until residents made a lot of noise?

Furthermore, why is HDB simply allowed to break contract and alter its terms when and when it pleases? This will ultimately have an effect on the company which it had already promised the land to and which has been proceeding under the assumption that it could build the columbarium as it had originally intended.

From the company’s perspective, their plans have gone down the drain. At the same time, if the tender price needs to be lowered because of the fact that they are not going to build commercial services there, then the other religious organisations that bid for the land would also need to be re-considered.

If HDB ends up having to pay damages to Eternal Pure Land, this will come out of the pockets of taxpayers in the end. It seems that HDB’s failure to do its due diligence has caused so much trouble and stress and is likely to even cost taxpayers money.

What do you think?

Related:
PAP MP Lam Pin Min: HDB and URA Lied to Me
Khaw Boon Wan: There will not be a Commercial Columbarium built in Fernvale
Khaw Tells Opera Story in Parliament to Justify HDB's Failure to Conduct Background Check


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