NAC's $470,000 bin centre has parody Twitter account and an attitude to match its price tag

AsiaOne
Tuesday, Aug 2, 2016

The National Arts Council's (NAC) redesigned bin centre is not just pricey, it apparently has a wicked sense of humour too.

Someone has started a parody Twitter account, with the handle, Bin Centre NAC.

There's no dirty talk here though.

Instead, the anthropomorphic "bin centre" dishes out snarky comments and snide digs like a boss.

The account was started on July 27, and it already has 211 followers as of today (Aug 2).

It describes itself as "the world's first tweeting Bin Centre. $470,000 only. Totally worth the price tag".

It was recently revealed in a report by the Auditor-General's Office that the NAC paid a consultancy fee of $410,000 for the construction of a bin centre, which cost another $470,000 to build.

This meant that the consultancy fee paid was 87.2 per cent of the cost of constructing the bin centre.

The high consultancy fees paid for the project have been the subject of much criticism.

It is not known who set up the parody Twitter account, but he or she has certainly been busy, posting more than 80 tweets since the account was started.

Bin Centre NAC's irreverent brand of humour is a hit with Twitter users.

It has also proved to be an astute social media user, even responding to an article by Coconuts Singapore on it.

Bin Centre NAC tweeted on July 29 that it would be promoted as the top tourist attraction in Singapore.

Responding to a question from a Twitter user on how much it would charge for entry, the savvy Bin Centre said that it would be charging an entry fee of $10 for adults, and $7 for students and Pioneer Generation card holders.

The bin centre is also offering free guided tours.

Perhaps the hefty price tag doesn't seem so high for a bin centre which appears to be self-aware and possesses artificial intelligence.

xiuhuil@sph.com.sg