Citizens could get more say in town council budgets under new trial

Those who live in public housing have limited influence on how town council funds are used, but this could change. Plans are now being drawn up for a trial allowing residents of one town council - the exact one has not yet been disclosed - to take a more active role in budgeting for community projects.

- Wong Pei Ting

They could, for instance, vote to build a water play area instead of a conventional playground in the neighbourhood, if the expenditure is justified.

This is known as participatory budgeting, where citizens come together to decide how to spend a given amount of public funds.

Introducing the new framework on Oct 1 was Mr Wee Keng Boon, a general manager at township management company EM Services, which manages nine of Singapore's 17 town councils.

He was speaking at the Future-Ready Society Conference, where the future of citizen participation was up for debate.

The conference was organised by the Lee Kuan Yew Centre for Innovative Cities and the Institute of Policy Studies (IPS).

Mr Wee declined to provide implementation details, such as when the pilot will begin, as plans are preliminary.

However, he said the amount of public funds allocated for participatory budgeting will be small for a start. One idea being explored is that seven in 10 eligible flat owners in the neighbourhood must support the proposals for them to go through, he added.

This takes reference from the existing Neighbourhood Renewal Programme (NRP), which allows upgrading works to go ahead if they are supported by at least 75 per cent of eligible flat owners, Mr Wee told The Straits Times.