Thrice a week, Mr Wan Chong Hock inspects the HDB blocks in Ang Mo Kio GRC and neighbouring Yio Chu Kang constituency.

Clipboard in hand, he and property officers of Ang Mo Kio-Yio Chu Kang Town Council check on the state of cleanliness and condition of a range of features, from electrical wiring and cracks in ceilings, to drains and corridor lighting.

The routine starts at 9am and could last as long as six hours, Mr Wan, the town council's chief executive officer told The Straits Times recently.

His town council is among 16 across Singapore that are being assessed for the first time on their performance in four areas: cleanliness of estate, maintenance of facilities, lift performance and management of arrears in service and conservancy charges.

Doing the evaluation are the HDB and National Development Ministry, which oversees public housing in Singapore, and the results will be out this month in the Town Council Management Report.

The report card will not rank the councils against one another but will grade them in each category on a level from one - which is the best level - to five.

Although comparisons are inevitable, Mr Wan is not perturbed. 'We're not reacting because the report is coming out. We are mindful the items in the report are key performance indicators for the council,' he said, adding that the thrice-weekly checks are a perennial routine.

'What we are providing is a service to our residents. Therefore, it is important for us to do well, whether or not there is a report... It's an ongoing thing,' pointed out the 21-year veteran of the council.

His town council serves 308,000 residents living in 80,000 HDB flats. And they are quick in letting the town council know when things go awry, said Mr Wan.

He views the upcoming report card as a benchmark reflecting the level of service provided by his council.

'If we score well, it confirms our standard of work. If we do not rate well in some areas, the council will look at how to improve on those aspects,' he said.

However, he is resigned to the fact that residents will compare Ang Mo Kio-Yio Chu Kang's performance with that of other town councils.

But such comparisons may be like comparing apples and oranges because, said Mr Wan, estates may vary in age, physical size, population make-up, density and amenities.

Pasir Ris-Punggol GRC, for instance, has newer HDB estates which have suffered less wear and tear compared to Ang Mo Kio, Toa Payoh or Queenstown, which are older estates ravaged by time.

In all, the 16 town councils manage 900,000 HDB flats. Fourteen are run by the People's Action Party and two by the opposition, these being the Workers' Party in Hougang and Singapore People's Party in Potong Pasir.

Jurong Town Council general manager Ho Thian Poh feels much of the work that town councils do goes unnoticed:

'Residents don't realise that we go out every day to carry out checks around the estate. Property officers even go up to rooftops to make sure there are no defects. Who's aware that they do that?'

Cleanliness and maintenance of the estates form the core of the work of a town council, said Mr Ho and Mr Wan.

With an eye on keeping costs low and improving productivity, officers on inspections key details into their PDAs and sync these with computers at the office.

Other cost-saving measures include using energy-saving LED lights in their estates, as these consume 60 per cent less power than fluorescent tube lights.

'We must keep maintenance costs low, so there will be no need to raise the S&CC (service and conservancy charges),' Mr Wan said, noting that these were last raised in 2004.

About 2.5 per cent of the residential S&CC accounts at Mr Wan's town council are in arrears for more than three months as of March this year, with the amount totalling about $800,000.

Source: The Straits Times © Singapore Press Holdings Ltd. Reprinted with permission.