Friday, January 25, 2013

$330 Million For Shelters?


With only a few days left till the Punggol East by-election, the Singapore government has been announcing new projects and plans left, right and centre to get people to vote for them. Everything from baby bonus to property cooling measures to new MRT lines has been announced.

However you have to wonder if in their rush to announce plans, whether the Singapore government exactly knows what the various government agencies are announcing. In the latest announcement, the government says they will spend $330 million to build a network of sheltered walkways linking MRT stations to their surrounding areas.

Seriously, when Singaporeans complain about the MRT nowadays, what do we complain about? Does anyone truly complain about getting wet? No, we complain about how the trains are not working, and about the constant and consistent breakdowns of the MRT lines.

And the government is spending $330 millions to build shelters? That just makes no sense. You are going to double Singapore's rail network by 2030 and then spend $330 millions to build covered walkways, all the while trains are suffering breakdowns consistently? How about using that money for something that's actually a concern for most Singaporeans, like fixing the MRT system to ensure it exactly works?

There’s something call “priority” and it seems the government and the LTA do not have it.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Think you have it wrong

a. $30 million for walkway
b. $300 million for noise barriers along mrt tracks /HBD flats - looks like good money for the noise consultants lah..

Anonymous said...

noise consultants...which party are they affiliated to or are they owned?

Anonymous said...

exactly my sentiment. have they not heard of umbrella ? As for the noise barrier, i am not sure if its worth it to spend so much for 5 to 10 db reduction. I think its an overkill, better spend this money to buy new trains that are less noisy or train the engineers to work on it.

I wonder why our country is so obsessed with building and constructions. Look around you, constructions of condo, HDB flats, train stations, lift upgrading. All these noises adds up to more than 10 db. Not to mention the dust.

All this relentless constructions is making living in this little red dot pretty trying.

Thanks for your post.

Anonymous said...

Who do you think will win the contract..

Ghost said...

Most people I spoke to agree. It's too much money that should be used for other things. No one need protection from the rain that badly!