Grassroots Leaders
4 October 2023
Ms Hazel Poa asked the Minister for Culture, Community and Youth (a) whether grassroots leaders are required to declare their political affiliations, if any, prior to their appointments; and (b) whether the People’s Association considers the political affiliations of individuals when appointing grassroots leaders.
Mr Edwin Tong Chun Fai: Grassroots leaders are not required to declare their political affiliations to the People’s Association.
20 October 2022
Ms Hazel Poa asked the Minister for Culture, Community and Youth whether the Ministry has data on the number of grassroots leaders who own or manage companies involved in (i) Town Council contracts, (ii) other Government contracts and (iii) operation of coffee shops respectively and, if so, what is the data.
Mr Edwin Tong Chun Fai: We do not, as a matter of course, collect such data.
Annual Fee Paid to Sports Hub Pte Ltd
13 September 2022
Ms Hazel Poa asked the Minister for Culture, Community and Youth with regard to the $193.7 million annual fee paid to Sports Hub Pte Ltd (a) whether the annual fee includes other costs apart from operations, maintenance, lifecycle and debt servicing costs; (b) what is the breakdown of these different costs from the annual fee paid; and (c) whether there are contractual clauses in the Project Agreement that allow the Government to discontinue payment of the entire annual fee in the event of non-performance by SHPL.
Mr Edwin Tong Chun Fai: About 65% of the annual fee of $193.7 million goes towards SHPL’s debt service repayments for the loan they took out to finance the Sports Hub construction. The remaining amount goes towards the day-to-day maintenance and operations, as well as lifecycle costs of the assets.
These payments are subject to SHPL’s achievement of a broad and comprehensive range of Key Performance Indicators (KPI) stipulated within the Project Agreement. These include the availability of Sports Hub facilities and performance of services, such as events and activity programming, as well as cleanliness, estate management, security and quality of customer care. Deductions to the annual payments can be made if the KPIs are not met.