Update on NEA's Rodent Control Efforts

27 Er Dr Lee Bee Wah asked the Minister for the Environment and Water Resources (a) if he can provide an update on NEA's rodent control efforts; (b) how successful is the Rat Attack Programme; and (c) whether the Ministry is looking into how this problem is tackled by other countries.

Mr Masagos Zulkifli B M M: Since 2011, the National Environment Agency (NEA) has been carrying out regular inspections of public areas to identify potential food sources and harbourages for rodents, as well as rodent burrowing activities. Some 32,000 burrows were detected in the first 10 months of 2016, a 12.5% decrease over the same period in 2015. Around 90% of these burrows were found in housing estates managed by the Town Councils (TCs), mostly near bin chutes and bin centres. With numerous such facilities located in housing estates, rodent control remains a challenge for many TCs, especially in areas where individual stakeholders fail to adopt proper food storage and waste management practices, resulting in ample food sources for rodents.

To tackle this situation, NEA has been working with the TCs to implement the Rat Attack Programme, to proactively take steps to reduce the rodent population in their housing estates. Last year, NEA calibrated the programme further to provide TCs with the flexibility to tailor specific rat control efforts according to the rodent situation in their respective housing estates. For instance, TCs can choose to adopt a combination of rodent control methods, such as population culling or burrow treatment. So far, 15 TCs have come on board the programme.

In some areas, actions by one party to destroy rodent burrows may displace the rodents to another location. NEA has, therefore, taken steps to strengthen the coordination among multiple stakeholders by facilitating the formation of Rat Coordination Task Forces. These working groups, which also include the TCs, facilitate the coordination of rodent control plans amongst the various stakeholders and help ensure that all parties play their part. Progress has been encouraging, especially in areas, such as Redhill Close, Clementi Avenue 3, Bedok Central and Bangkit Road, where the number of burrows has fallen by more than 30% since coordination efforts began.

Beyond these efforts, NEA also regularly inspects retail food establishments for signs of rodent infestation and conducted more than 137,000 inspections last year. Retail food establishments that fail to keep their premises free of rodent infestation could have their licences suspended or revoked. NEA also inspects shopping malls and requires the operators of such premises to put in place rodent control programmes and proper waste management practices. NEA will not hesitate to take enforcement action against any premises owners for any public health lapses that lead to rodent infestation.

NEA has also been studying how the rodent problem is tackled in other countries and will continue to evaluate our programmes and adopt relevant measures in our local context, where feasible.

While NEA continues to keep up the surveillance and control of the rodent population in Singapore, it is the responsibility of all stakeholders to ensure a good system of housekeeping, refuse management and routine pest control checks and treatment to keep the rodent population under control. For example, all home owners and retail food establishments should bag their food waste properly to minimise access by rodents and reduce the contamination of recyclable waste.