Diversifying Ruined

More ERP gantries, higher ERP rates to ease congestion.

SINGAPORE : More electronic road pricing (or ERP) gantries will be put up and some ERP rates will be raised as part of the government's wide ranging move to ease traffic congestion.

So the incremental ERP charge will be raised from 50 cents to S$1 progressively from July.

At the same time, the ERP base charge, which is the starting charge for a new ERP gantry point, will be increased from S$1 to S$2.

But road taxes will be reduced by 15 percent from July this year as part of the general move towards taxing based on usage, rather than ownership.

To lower the upfront cost of car ownership, the Additional Registration Fee (or ARF) will be lowered from 110 percent of the Open Market Value (or OMV) to 100 percent from March.

SINGAPORE : Expect to pay up to S$10.50 on a weekend to watch blockbusters such as Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince or The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian.

At a media conference on Tuesday, the cinema operator and film distributor said it was raising ticket prices for films by 50 cents or about 6 per cent due to "escalating prices in goods, services, labour, film rentals and the Goods and Services Tax".

What's more, an additional 50 cents will be tagged on for blockbusters such as Harry Potter and Iron Man.

Mr Rafdi said that Cathay would categorise a movie as a blockbuster only if it has an "A-list cast and/or director, a big production budget of more than US$100 million (S$142 million), is a part of a successful franchise (like Spider-Man, Batman and Shrek)" and open on the same day in Singapore as in the United States.

Only around 20 out of the hundreds of films released here would qualify as a blockbuster this year, he said.

When contacted by TODAY, Shaw Organisation, which operates seven cineplexes here, said it would not be following Cathay's lead. "There has been some increase in our cinema operation costs. However, Shaw has no plan to raise its movie ticket prices at this point," Shaw's executive vice-president Mark Shaw told TODAY.

The other major operator, Golden Village, did not respond to TODAY's queries by press time. Moviegoers TODAY spoke to were mixed on the ticket price hike.