SINGAPORE: Speaking on the President’s Address, Workers’ Party MP Dennis Tan (Hougang SMC) tackled the issue of “spiralling” prices of Certificates of Entitlement (COE), the document giving the person the right to own and use a vehicle.
Such a spiral could have social effects, he said on Friday (Apr 21), going on to ask if the government can do more for Singaporeans who need to buy a car for various reasons, specifically private buyers who use their vehicles for “work purposes, taking care of their families with young children, taking care of elderly family members, or handicapped family members.”
And for some, utilizing the services of taxis or ride-hailing companies may not be feasible.
He made the same appeal to see that the COEs for commercial vehicles are not subject to similar pressures.
“The rising COEs for this category have contributed to rising business costs and present further challenges for our smaller businesses. And added business costs also contribute to increase in cost of living for everyone.”
In November last year, the COE for smaller cars ended at $90,589 in the latest tender exercise. The highest it has ever been was $92,100, recorded in January 2013. For commercial vehicles, a new high of $81,802 last November as well.
In his Apr 21 speech, Mr Tan also called on the government to make the pricing of electric vehicles (EVs) more attractive.
“To date, the pricing of Electric Vehicles (EVs) is still relatively unattractive compared to ICE (internal combustion engine) vehicles. I agree that the Government should further review to see how we are better able to encourage and incentivise more people to switch to EVs and reducing the number of new ICE vehicles on the road.”
This would mean giving parallel importers more assistance to encourage them to get higher volumes of electric vehicles. /TISG