Twenty new district councillors for North West Community Development Council (CDC) were appointed and another 38 reappointed during the North West CDC Appreciation and Appointment Ceremony on Thursday night (Oct 29).
All are volunteers.
Transport Minister Ong Ye Kung was guest of honour at the event, which was also attended by North West district mayor and council chairman Alex Yam and council vice-chairmen Lim Wee Kiak, Liang Eng Hwa and Carrie Tan.
They attended the event at the North West CDC office in Woodlands, while council members Derrick Goh and Mariam Jaafar, advisory panel member Muhammad Faishal Ibrahim, and the district councillors joined in via video conferencing platform Zoom.
Mr Yam is an MP for Marsiling-Yew Tee GRC, while Dr Lim, Ms Mariam and Mr Ong are Sembawang GRC MPs. Mr Liang is MP for Bukit Panjang and Ms Tan, Mr Goh and Associate Professor Faishal are Nee Soon GRC MPs.
Sembawang GRC MP Poh Li San also attended via zoom.
The new term of office began on July 27 and will last for three years.
In his speech, Mr Ong said: "Sometimes we need to devolve some autonomy and authority to the ground, who can then look at the situation and be able to make quick decisions and get things done quickly. And I think this has been the spirit of CDCs.
"One of unique roles of the CDCs is to maintain close links with community and corporate partners, volunteers, and residents. That way, it mobilises talent and resources, to meet the needs of the community, and especially the less fortunate."
Mr Yam said North West CDC will focus on resilience, capability and sustainability in the new term.
It will also prioritise helping vulnerable residents in the near term while building their capabilities and resilience in the longer term by providing jobs and upskilling opportunities through online webinars, onsite career fairs and targeted job placements and matching for certain sectors.
He said: "We're also going to continue to build sustainability in our district, to foster altruism, continue with our green living programmes and expand on our 3P, or public, private and people partnerships through our council network."
