The Certificate of Entitlement (COE) prices for owning cars and motorcycles in Singapore will not be affected significantly, said Senior Minister of State for Transport Lam Pin Min in Parliament today.
He was responding to a parliamentary question raised by Saktiandi Supaat. Member of Parliament (MP) for Bishan-Toa Payoh GRC.
The Land Transport Authority (LTA) of Singapore announced on October 23 that Singapore’s vehicle growth rate will be cut to zero, down from the current 0.25 per cent, for all private passenger cars (Categories A and B) and motorcycles (Category D). This will take effect from February next year. This decision was taken to control the proliferation of private cars and motorcycles in Singapore,
The Minister said, “The Government does not expect the move to reduce vehicle growth to affect the COE quota and therefore COE prices significantly. This is because the COE quota is largely determined by the number of vehicle de-registrations.”
MP Saktiandi has also asked another question whether Singapore’s public transport system and commuting infrastructure are ready to take on more passengers.
Dr Lam replied that Singapore has invested heavily to build up its public transport system.
He said, “For one, the rail network has been expanded by almost 30 per cent to 230 kilometres over the last five years, which means that 8 in 10 households will be within a 10-minute walk to a train station by 2030. The fleet size for existing MRT lines has also increased by close to 50 per cent.’
He added, “Through the Bus Service Enhancement Programme and the Bus Contracting Model, there will be an additional 80 new bus routes and 1,000 new buses by the end of this year.”
He said, “There will be less need to own a car.”
Desmond Choo, Tampines GRC MP asked if the ministry will consider a separate COE category for commercial motorcycles.
The Minister replied that the current COE system sets aside Category D as a separate category for motorcycles so that motorcycle buyers need not compete with other vehicle buyers for COEs. Splitting Category D further would result in a smaller quota in each sub-category, which may lead to more volatility in prices.”
Meanwhile, the growth rate for goods vehicles and buses in Category C will remain unchanged at 0.25 per cent until the first quarter of 2021.
