Transparency is needed

THE Housing and Development Board (HDB) is Singapore’s public housing authority, a statutory board under the National Development Ministry that is tasked with creating homes and towns with a good quality living environment. Meanwhile, the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) is Singapore’s land use planning and conservation authority whose mission is to make the city state a great place to live in, work and play.

Collectively, these entities own close to 607,000 car parks. According to their annual reports, income from HBD’s car parks increased from S$522,942,000 (FY09/10) to S$595,247,000 (FY14/15), averaging an increase of S$14,461,000 per year. Expenses for managing the car parks increased from S$38,729,000 to S$78,859,000, averaging an increase of S$8,026,000 per year. For the URA, income from the car parks increased from S$50,582,000 (FY02/03) to S$71,284,000 (FY14/15), averaging an increase of S$1,725,250 per year, while expenses increased from S$6,831,000 (FY02/02) to S$11,955,000 (FY14/15), averaging S$428,500 per year.