The nature of Neighbourhood Renewal Programme and how it works

Murali revealed his plans for Bukit Batok and said that he needed a mandate to carry on the plans.

Some call it a dangling of carrots. Some call it a punitive approach.

A punitive approach it is not. It is just the way things work.

Or to quote Pritam Singh, "that's the nature of NRP and how it works."

So then, what is the nature of NRP and how it works?

NRP projects are proposals unique to each estate. They are the result of feedback gathered from residents. Each town council makes proposals for NRP based on feedback gathered.

NRP projects are IMPLEMENTED BY THE TOWN COUNCIL.

This means the elected MP is the one who will implement NRP projects. 

Conversely speaking, whoever is not elected as MP has no mandate or right to implement any NRP projects.

That was what Murali meamt when he said he needed a mandate to carry out the plans.

There is also no guarantee that a NRP project proposed before an election will carry on as proposed when there is a change of town council because the new town council is free to change the proposal. Hence the mandate needed.

To quote Pritam Singh,
"..... we were free to determine if we wanted to change the proposal of the previous PAP-run Aljunied Town Council with regard to the NRP upgrading plans - that's the nature of the NRP and how it works."

Incidentally, Pritam Singh, in reacting negatively to what Murali said, did not realize that he had answered his own questions.