Petrol mumbai

SINGAPORE - Motorists will have to pay more at the pump from Tuesday (Feb 16), with petrol duties raised for the first time in six years. Announcing the hike with immediate effect during his Budget speech on Tuesday, Deputy Prime Minister Heng Swee Keat said that motorists will also be given road tax and additional petrol duty rebates to help offset the higher costs. The duty for premium grade (98-octane and above) petrol will be raised 15 cents per litre to 79 cents a litre, while that for intermediate grade (92-octane and 95-octane) petrol will be raised 10 cents a litre to 66 cents a litre. Petrol duties were last raised in 2015 to encourage less car usage and reduce carbon emissions. The latest higher petrol duties are intended to encourage Singaporeans to reduce their vehicle usage as part of the Republic's larger push towards a more sustainable future, alongside efforts such as increasing support for electric vehicle-related initiatives. Motorcyclists will be given a ... » Learn More about Budget 2021: Petrol duties raised with immediate effect, road tax rebates to help offset increased costs

As announced in the Budget Statement 2021, additional support will be provided to ease the transition to higher petrol excise duties for those who rely on their vehicles for their livelihoods. Active drivers of petrol and petrol-hybrid taxis and Private Hire Cars (PHCs), and individual owners of smaller motorcycles, will receive additional Petrol Duty Rebates (PDRs), on top of the respective road tax rebates for cars and motorcycles. The additional PDRs will be disbursed from May 2021. Active taxi and PHC drivers will receive a 15 per cent road tax rebate for one year and an additional $360 disbursed over four consecutive months The total amount of rebates for taxis/PHCs and motorcycles are as shown in the table below. Taken together, the road tax rebates and the additional PDRs will offset the increase in petrol duties for about one year for eligible taxi and PHC drivers, and individual owners of smaller motorcycles. The Land Transport Authority (LTA) has worked closely with ... » Learn More about Additional petrol duty rebates for active taxi and PHC drivers to be disbursed

SINGAPORE - The recent petrol duty hike is meant to set price signals and change behaviour, rather than to get drivers to switch to electric vehicles (EVs) immediately, said Deputy Prime Minister Heng Swee Keat on Friday (Feb 26). Responding to MPs like Dr Lim Wee Kiak (Sembawang GRC) and Workers' Party MP Dennis Tan (Hougang), who asked why the petrol duty was raised before the infrastructure for electric vehicles is fully ready, Mr Heng said that this was not the intention of the duty adjustments. "Just like how we have made deliberate decisions to protect our environment, we want people to make conscious choices about how to drive, how much to drive, and whether to even drive at all," said Mr Heng, who was rounding up the debate on the Budget statement. EVs are also not the only alternatives to driving, Mr Heng said. Hybrid vehicles are another alternative that are already widely available today. Public transport, too, is being kept affordable and accessible through rail and ... » Learn More about Budget debate: Petrol duty hike not meant to get drivers to switch to EVs immediately

SINGAPORE - In yet another push for cleaner vehicles here, no more new diesel cars and taxis will be allowed to be registered here from 2025. Transport Minister Ong Ye Kung announced this at a debate on the Government's sustainability plans on Thursday (March 4). This is five years earlier than the target to have all new vehicles be "cleaner energy" models by 2030. Mr Ong noted that motor vehicles in Singapore emit about 6.4 million tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2)-equivalent per year. If light vehicles - including cars and taxis - all ran on electricity, "the total net carbon abatement would be about 1.5 to two million tonnes per year". "This abatement is about 4 per cent of our total national emissions - not insignificant," the minister added, noting that there is 50 per cent carbon savings by switching to electric vehicles "even if the electricity is generated by fossil fuels". He said banning the registration of new diesel cars and taxis would "further pave the way for ... » Learn More about No more new diesel cars, taxis in Singapore from 2025

SINGAPORE: One of the unexpected delights of the circuit breaker from Apr 7 to Jun 1 was the visible flourishing of natural life across Singapore, as grass-cutting and weeding activities ground to a halt. In once closely mown grass patches, tropical wildflowers, forest shrub seedlings and native tree saplings sprang up. More butterflies, bees and birds were seen flitting about residential estates, roadsides and park connectors. And people were enjoying the revitalised spaces too, judging from positive reactions on social media. Many netizens expressed appreciation for their beauty and diversity of plant and animal life. Some reminisced how these lush landscapes reminded them of Singapore in the 1960s and 70s. READ: Commentary: The wonder of clear skies and returning wildlife is our new climate problem On a practical level, some suggested that less manicured green spaces would reduce the air and noise pollution produced by gasoline-powered leaf blowers and mowers. During a ... » Learn More about Commentary: Let Singapore’s green spaces grow wild

SINGAPORE - A number of initiatives, including vouchers for families and extended wage subsidies for sectors hardest hit by the Covid-19 pandemic, were announced by Deputy Prime Minister Heng Swee Keat on Tuesday (Feb 16). Households will get more rebates and vouchers to spend in the heartland, while lifelines for firms in sectors like aviation and tourism will be extended for a few more months. Here are 10 highlights: 1. More help for families, including $100 vouchers A $900 million Household Support Package will be rolled out for families amid the ongoing economic uncertainty. The package includes vouchers that each household can use to defray expenses and support local businesses, as well as service and conservancy charge (S&CC) rebates and goods and services tax (GST) vouchers. About 1.3 million households will receive $100 Community Development Council (CDC) vouchers that can be used at participating heartland shops and hawker centres. Eligible ... » Learn More about Highlights of Budget 2021: From household vouchers to GST on imported low-value goods bought online

SINGAPORE - More measures will be rolled out to narrow the cost of owning an electric vehicle compared to petrol and diesel vehicles, to encourage drivers to make the switch. Deputy Prime Minister Heng Swee Keat on Tuesday (Feb 16) said the minimum Additional Registration Fee (ARF) for electric cars will be lowered to zero from January 2022 to December 2023. Currently, all car buyers have to pay at least $5,000 in ARF, regardless of the tax rebate a car is entitled to. Mr Heng said lowering the ARF floor will enable mass-market electric car buyers to maximise tax rebates from the Electric Vehicle Early Adoption Incentive. Road taxes for electric cars will also be revised, such that a mass-market electric car will have road tax comparable with  an internal combustion engine (ICE) equivalent, he added. More details will be announced when MPs debate the budgets of various ministries from next week. These moves are the latest in a series of measures by the Government to ... » Learn More about Budget 2021: New measures to narrow cost difference between electric cars and conventional cars

If Singapore were a person, I would objectively say that Singapore is someone who is rather financially savvy. Instead of spending impulsively on frivolous wants and racking up huge debts , Singapore has long been fiscally prudent, accumulating budget surpluses for most years. Don’t just take my word for it. Singapore has the highest possible AAA credit rating (Aaa rating for Moody’s) from international agencies like Standard & Poor’s, Fitch, and Rating and Investment Information (R&I). This financial prudence is even written into our constitution, which requires Singapore to maintain a balanced budget over a typical five-year government term. For the past few electoral cycles, the Singapore government has maintained budget surpluses which grants it the ability to roll out bigger budgets in subsequent years. Think of it as an emergency fund of sorts but on the national level. Thankfully there was no pressing need to use this ’emergency fund’ until recently. When the ... » Learn More about How worried should you be about Singapore’s $64.9b budget deficit in FY2020?

It goes without saying that Covid-19 took with it not just lives, but an increasing number of livelihoods as well. Unemployment and retrenchments have grown since the pandemic hit. These days, it’s not uncommon to hear of someone who remains unemployed — even after looking for months. Under the rallying call of Emerging Stronger Together, the Budget 2021 announcement by Finance Minister Heng Swee Keat laid out a slew of job support measures to drive innovation in our employment landscape, create more jobs and upskill workers. Job support measures from Budget 2021 1. SGUnited Jobs and Skills package SGUnited Jobs and Skills Package aims to support the hiring of 200,000 locals in 2021 and provide another 35,000 with traineeships and training opportunities. Dubbed as a key pillar in Singapore’s industry transformation by DPM Heng, the package will help Singaporeans to acquire new knowledge and broaden their skills as new employment opportunities emerge. Under the Jobs Growth ... » Learn More about 8 job support measures from Singapore Budget 2021

SINGAPORE - While the revised target to build 60,000 electric vehicle (EV) charging points by 2030 is welcome, it will still be insufficient to drive the adoption of battery-powered cars if the authorities do not get the details right, said Mr Dennis Tan (Hougang). The Workers' Party MP also raised several questions about implementation - from possible congestion at charging points due to current carpark designs, to the impact of EV charging on Singapore's electrical grid. "While it is important to have a good number of charging points, we should also bear in mind that these numbers will be insufficient if we do not get the other details right," he said on Thursday (Feb 25) during the debate on the Budget statement. The target of 60,000 charging points by 2030 is more than double the original goal of 28,000 charging points. Mr Tan asked if the new charging points would support fast charging and if the EVs here could use such technology. "Can we do it in one hour as opposed ... » Learn More about Budget debate: Get details on EV charging points right to drive greater adoption: Workers’ Party MP