LTA bullies and evicting home owners...
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Aug 12, 2005
Property owners shocked at short quit notice
By Tan Hui Yee
OWNERS of homes and businesses who have been given one month to vacate their five-storey Hock Kee House in Paya Lebar Road were shocked when they were told the news last night.
After a 90-minute meeting with the Land Transport Authority (LTA) at Geylang Serai Community Club, many said they need time to digest the news that their apartments and business premises were slated for demolition.
One owner of a business unit, who declined to be named, said: 'We knew it was going to be bad news, but we had to come.'
The letters, dated Aug 8, said only that the meeting was about the Circle MRT Line works near their property.
When the 24 property owners and their representatives who turned up found out, they were unhappy that they had been given only one month to move out.
The buffet spread of noodles, vegetables and fruit outside the meeting room did little to soothe frayed tempers.
One doctor who runs his practice there, Dr S.Y. Cheok, told The Straits Times: '(The time given) is just too short. It happened so suddenly.'
It's the second blow to his 40-year-old practice, which has already seen patient numbers drop by 40 per cent since last year because of the Circle Line works nearby.
An apartment owner, Madam Ek Kim Chai, was at a loss what to tell her tenants, who still have about one year left on their lease.
'I hope the Government can help us compensate our tenants, since we'd have to break our contracts with them,' said the 60-year-old retiree. 'It's just too fast.'
Each owner will be given an ex gratia payment of up to $100,000 per unit on top of compensation, which will be determined by valuers.
The LTA's deputy chief executive, Mr Low Tien Sio, told the media last night the Government will also take into account the individual needs of owners when determining their compensation.
'We'll try our very best to help them,' he said. -
ONE MONTH!!!
damn.. what kind of drugs and power-trip are the LTA asswipes on?
people's homes are at stake!! -
i really doubt soOriginally posted by crazy monkey:'We'll try our very best to help them,' he said.
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Damn lucky LTA never pay them $1 onlyOriginally posted by crazy monkey:Aug 12, 2005
Each owner will be given an ex gratia payment of up to $100,000 per unit on top of compensation, which will be determined by valuers.
The LTA's deputy chief executive, Mr Low Tien Sio, told the media last night the Government will also take into account the individual needs of owners when determining their compensation.
'We'll try our very best to help them,' he said.
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Haiz, CCL again. This line is the most problematic. Nicoll Highway collapse, then S'goon station (NEL) sinking, now this.
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nothing surprising.
in the end the residents will be quoted as saying they are so happy at the solutions offered by LTA -
thing is.. how long has the circle line been under construction?
they knew the whole building would have to go LONG ago.. yet did nothing until now...
if i were the residents there, i'd sue the LTA for incompetence.. -
Why not write a letter to President Nathan? People's President what!
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Each owner will be given an ex gratia payment of up to $100,000 per unit on top of compensation, which will be determined by valuers.
Not even one peanut. -
how long can they keep things under wraps. LTA is really fark up.Originally posted by bismarck:nothing surprising.
in the end the residents will be quoted as saying they are so happy at the solutions offered by LTA
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Under the existing Land Acquisition Act, government compensate the owners of lands being acquired on assumption that the lands being acquired are for non-profit or public use.
However, very often this assumption turns out to be grossly inaccurate in many instances when lands were actually put to commercial purposes e.g. selling MRT sites to much more profiteering use.
In such cases, the acquisition intent varies from that made known to the affected land owners. Is this somewhat misleading the public?
For accountable corporate governance, view: http://www.ospforohsopolite.blogspot.com -
They should take this to court.E.g the $1 dollar land offer made by SLA to a church.
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The church concerned was finally compensated on the correct use class namely car park not road reserve at S$17,000, a jump from S$1.00 originally awarded by the minister. Minister is human and can be grossly inaccurate.Originally posted by LazerLordz:They should take this to court.E.g the $1 dollar land offer made by SLA to a church. -
LTA seems to be stumbling from pillar to post these days.
The general public was already aware of the lack of integrity of its engineers. In the case of the circle line collapse, it was discovered in court that LTA engineers inspected the safety conditions of the structrual integrity WITHOUT climbing down into the tunnel itself.
In the case of the cyclist who became paralysed during the overhead bridge mishap, the LTA conveniently blamed the contractor for 'failing to notify' them before installing the ridiculous monstrousity. It is PREPOSTEROUS that a regulating body should DARE to absolve themselves from responsibility from a project that they commmissioned and feign ignorance of the contractor's construction plans. The whole incident stinks of incompetence and blatant mishandling over what may or may not be considered by LTA as a 'minor' issue.
Is it no surprise then that they steamroll tenants of the building in the centre of the circle line controversy? Short of putting a gun to they heads, they have 'ordered' a complete eviction within an uncompromising 1 month. That includes relocation of their businesses, homes etc with limited repatriation. 100,000 compensation for each stall owner? That in my opinion is 'peanuts'.
What kind of mismanagement is LTA practicing? Is YEO CHEOW TONG running a TRANSPORT MINISTRY or TRANSPORT INC? Where is the diplomacy and compassion that should be afforded these tenants, especially when they are being forced out against their will? It is obvious that during the planning stages of the circle line, this building should have stood out like a sore thumb on any engineering blueprint.
Why was this issue not addressed earlier? Was the circle line accident too big a distraction that some administrative bureaucrat missed it? Or did LTA react only when threatened with the issue of liquidated damages from their contractor? -
LTA needs to send their managers to a "Project Management for Dummies" course. How come these managers never use Gantt charts before, izzit? How could they not forsee this problem earlier?
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This ministry is sounding more and more like a bad joke..
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Is this the way LTA's planning by only giving one month notice to people?Originally posted by the Bear:ONE MONTH!!!
damn.. what kind of drugs and power-trip are the LTA asswipes on?
people's homes are at stake!!
What, how they work? What is the head of LTA doing? What is the Development Minister doing? Why such poor, horrible acts and unjustice could be happening here? Our sg gov is getting too much and harder on us~! Freaking gov is the word. -
Originally posted by crazy monkey:'We'll try our very best to help them,' he said.
lj -
(Raise pinky to mouth with a Dr Evil voice) BwahahahahaOriginally posted by crazy monkey:'We'll try our very best to help them,' he said.
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It seems like the ministry has learned how to avoid answering problems from one collapse to another from one marine clay and dewatering to another. Even though they should have known well about the nature of marine clay and dewatering to surrounding soil and buildings, they would just push everything to contracts.
I am very sure that a more proactive team will approach the marine clay sites totally differently and much more safely and Nicol Highway open-cut will not have been permitted by an average capable team.
On the other hand if they practise contractual denial the public will have to take the shit of they pushing every accident to the contractor with buildings collapsing and someone being punished under laws or contracts. This is the same problem with other ministries where problems are allowed to persist year after year with no proactive actions taken but someone can always be found to take the blame.
The economic master plan is not put up till this day for the same reason as to put up such a plan someone is afraid of personal career risk.
From Hotel New World to Kolam Ayer and Nicol Highway all the problems and marine clay collapses are avoidable by reasonable precautionary measures. It does not take a rocket scientist to design any such proactive measures. -
Billybong, LTA is managed by Yeo Cheow Tong. What can we expect from Mr. Yes Man?Originally posted by BillyBong:LTA seems to be stumbling from pillar to post these days.
The general public was already aware of the lack of integrity of its engineers. In the case of the circle line collapse, it was discovered in court that LTA engineers inspected the safety conditions of the structrual integrity WITHOUT climbing down into the tunnel itself.
In the case of the cyclist who became paralysed during the overhead bridge mishap, the LTA conveniently blamed the contractor for 'failing to notify' them before installing the ridiculous monstrousity. It is PREPOSTEROUS that a regulating body should DARE to absolve themselves from responsibility from a project that they commmissioned and feign ignorance of the contractor's construction plans. The whole incident stinks of incompetence and blatant mishandling over what may or may not be considered by LTA as a 'minor' issue.
Is it no surprise then that they steamroll tenants of the building in the centre of the circle line controversy? Short of putting a gun to they heads, they have 'ordered' a complete eviction within an uncompromising 1 month. That includes relocation of their businesses, homes etc with limited repatriation. 100,000 compensation for each stall owner? That in my opinion is 'peanuts'.
What kind of mismanagement is LTA practicing? Is YEO CHEOW TONG running a TRANSPORT MINISTRY or TRANSPORT INC? Where is the diplomacy and compassion that should be afforded these tenants, especially when they are being forced out against their will? It is obvious that during the planning stages of the circle line, this building should have stood out like a sore thumb on any engineering blueprint.
Why was this issue not addressed earlier? Was the circle line accident too big a distraction that some administrative bureaucrat missed it? Or did LTA react only when threatened with the issue of liquidated damages from their contractor?
Recently saw a website on him. Might be interesting for you to take a look. It's www.yeocheowtong.com. -
Have said many times over that LTA is the worst stat board in the history of SIngapore, staffed by 3rd class engineering and army idiots (red: Yam Ah Mee) who are there to collect fat pay cheques and headed by the ultimate bozo and piece of crap called Yeo Cheow Tong.
It has squandered millions of public money through the endless list of mistakes including:
1. aborted satellite tracking system
2. aborted 1st phase of bus stop upgrading
3. nicoll highway collapse
4. setting overly strict standards for private buses which want to compete with SBS for feeder routes
5. falsely thinking there will be competition between MRT and SBS hence leading to high cost of NEL
6. not mandating recordable security cameras initially resulting in SMRT now having to change all its cameras
7. endless road diggings all over singapore causing jams and inconvenience
8. bad locations of some NEL stations resulting in white elephants at Bidahari and Buang Kok and causing dissatisfaction among public
NOW ELECTIONS ARE COMING. IF YOU ARE UNDER YEO CHEOW TONG'S WARD, YOU SHOULD VOTE THAT CHIEF IDIOT OUT. -
This site has been around for a long time.Originally posted by durai:Billybong, LTA is managed by Yeo Cheow Tong. What can we expect from Mr. Yes Man?
Recently saw a website on him. Might be interesting for you to take a look. It's www.yeocheowtong.com.
However i would advise anyone who views it to stay objective. There's a lot of BIAS and hyped-up claims which will not hold water.
It's important to stay critical and not 'anti-govt'. -
On the list of famous bungles from LTA, the following bungle was an exercise that was designed to fail :
Early 2005 saw an attempt by LTA to add 'digital LED count-down timers' to inform all road users the remaining time left for 'Red' or 'Green' traffic lights shown.
After about two months of testing, the LTA announced that this 'digital count-down timers' had caused confusion amongst the road users, and will not be implemented in Singapore.
It is surprising that with Singapore's status as a high-technology center, compared to the Malaysian State of Johor, this exercise showed the 'no brainer' approach by LTA - who had caused the stated confusion by using 'RED' digital count-down displays for both 'Red' and 'Green' traffic light conditions.
In Johor, when the traffic light shows 'Red' - the digital LED count down display will be displayed in 'Red'; and when the 'Green' light is on, the LED count-down display is synchronised to be displayed in 'Green'.
LTA seems to have learnt this strategy of 'Design to Fail' - to any ideas that can benefit Singapore, BUT are not favored by the Authorities.
This strategy has been used by the Ruling Party in creating a situation that merely justify their already decided position - the most infamous is the claim that providing more political space will merely cause confusion and racial disturbance in Singapore.
Other idiotic LTA decisions:
Third Brake Light - installed at the rear dashboard of all cars - was claimed also to be causing confusion to Singapore road users, as it was distracting.
LTA sees Singapore road users as mentally degraded and could not discern the extra third light that comes on only when the foot brakes are activated.
Without the Third Brake Light, it will be more difficult to discern if the vehicle in front is actually slowing down or at a halt, as some vehicles have rear lights that are very dim (or very bright), and showing little difference when foot brakes are activated.
After two months banning the Third Brake Lights, LTA made a U-Turn decision.
Fog Lamps fitted at the front of the car - seems to be a target of interest by LTA enforcers, which will zero in on those fog lamps not fitted into the moulding of the bumper and 'not seen to be' original manufacturer's equipment.
Those extra fog lamps that are mounted on brackets to the front of the vehicle require extra covers to conceal the lamps to prevent its use on Singapore roads. However, no covers are required for those extra lamps that are fitted into the holes provided in the front bumpers.
This arbitrary and discriminating rule is bias towards OEM fog lamps, which are cheaper than those original car equipment - (which itself is hardly produced by the car manufacturer).
The Rule is not based on some standard that requires fog lamps exceeding certain light intensity to be covered and used only on Off-Road situation.
This Rule still stand.
With a Political Party that is familiar with arrogance, and elected to form the Government, the whole system rules on the arrogant 'Top-Down' basis of
"I Say, You Do - and no question asked" .
This arrogant and heavy handed 'Top-Down' habit has become prevalent with all the Government Ministries and Agencies, which are creating and dictating rules and laws to mess up our Social and Economic Life - let alone depriving us of our Political Life. -
ah Lian will hear abt this comment made from a uniformed personnel of his unitOriginally posted by the Bear:ONE MONTH!!!
damn.. what kind of drugs and power-trip are the LTA asswipes on?
people's homes are at stake!!