In a statement released on Monday, the Ministry of National Development (MND) said that elected Members of Parliament (MPs) pay S$365 for an annual permit that allows them to park at Housing & Development Board (HDB) car parks and at Parliament House.
They added that the amount is “a proportion of” the current HDB season parking rate. This is because, “MPs do not park overnight or full day at their constituencies,” the MND said.
For HDB residents, they pay S$960 a annually for a surface parking lot for their first car, and S$1320 for a parking lot in a sheltered car park.
The MND also told Channel NewsAsia that the permit fee was increased from S$260 in 2016, and that Non-constituency MPs (NCMPs) and Nominated MPs (NMPs) were not given this permit.
These updates come after the Ministry of Education (MOE) said that teachers would have to pay for their parking at schools from Aug 1 this year.
However, even with this update, many netizens expressed their disapproval, citing that just like MPs, teachers do not park overnight or for full days at their places of work.
Most said that there was a disparity in the policy and that there was unequal treatment across the board.
One netizen even offered a solution to the issue:
obbana@theindependent.sg