Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (Amendment) Bill - Cai Yinzhou
Reposted from Source: MDDI Singapore (14 October 2025 - 5:38 PM)
Source: MDDI Singapore
Full Transcript
Mr Deputy Speaker: Mr Cai Yinzhou.
Mr Cai Yinzhou (Bishan-Toa Payoh): Sir, this Bill aims to establish the SAF Fund and to provide for the imposition of a SAF levy and supports the laudable goal of CAAS and MOT to kickstart the adoption of SAF in Singapore.
Sir, I seek to raise two key areas for the Minister's clarification.
The first is on the financial structure of the levy. It is accepted the high costs of SAF currently necessitates a measure and mechanism like this levy to support its initial adoption. However, I remain concerned that this policy decision appears to place the financial burden entirely upon passengers.
I respectfully ask the Minister of State to justify the approach and explain the considerations behind the choice, not to implement a model of financial risk sharing with airlines or fuel suppliers, or direct volume metric mandate on these commercial entities, an approach which has been adopted in other jurisdictions, such as EU and UK. As this levy is passed on to consumers, we need clear assurance that their contribution is both effective and monitored.
Flights from Singapore were previously estimated to increase by $3 to Bangkok; $6 to Tokyo and $16 to London. I would be grateful if the Minister of State could inform the House of the specific mechanisms and reporting protocols. CAAS was established to actively monitor these estimates and ensure that actual financial impact of the levy on ticket prices remains predictable and consistently aligns with the Ministry's initial projections.
A crucial point for public confidence is technical basis for the cost difference. The Ministry has previously stated, including in its discussion in 2023 that SAF is currently more than three times the cost of conventional jet fuel, thereby being unsuitable for use by the Republic of Singapore Air Force and its aircrafts, like the F-16. Could the Minister of State provide more detailed elaboration on the methodology, including the specific fossil fuel benchmark used to assess how the cost of the banded fuel of jet fuel was calculated and substantiated to be more than three times that of Jet Propellant 8 (JP-8) fuel?
Finally, we must leverage on our national strengths. Singapore is a major refining hub, home to significant self-production capacity, such as Neste's expanded facility. The Minister's assurance is sought on the strategy for how the presence of these advanced facilities will be utilised to bring the cost of SAF lower over time, rather than merely acting as a platform for centralised procurement and persistently high global market rates.
Secondly, on the need for public accounting in its management. This SAF levy is a public contribution towards a critical national goal and the accompanying trust must be transparently maintained. While the blueprint indicates the fund will purchase SAF at its actual market price, the Bill is not explicit on public reporting obligations. I urge to consider establishing a clear formal reporting obligation for CAAS regarding the SAF Fund. Will the Ministry commit to publish a regular and comprehensive report for the public? Such a report should document the total levy collected and expended, the volume and cost of SAF purchase, the actual SAF uplift proportion achieved by airlines and, most importantly, the measurable environmental impact and carbon emissions reduction delivered by the fund.
I commend the Ministry for this decisive step towards the long-term decarbonisation for our aviation industry. Notwithstanding these clarifications, Deputy Speaker, Sir, I stand in support of the Bill.
Link to Hansard: Official Reports - Parliamentary Debates (HANSARD)
