The govt took less than a month to decide on spending $750m to solve a little ponding problem in Orchard Road. The recommendations by the committee of experts were revealed only a few weeks back in the main media. Looking from a positive angle, it is decisiveness, a govt on the ball and is trying to tackle the problem as fast as it could. I still remember that it needed one whole year of studies to decide to give those on public assistance $50 extra a month. I am not privy to how long the committee took to come out with the recommendations but the decision was made super fast and super serious.
I don’t know how many and how big were the ponds. If there were 10 ponds, it means each pond will cost $75m to remove. And looking at the works to be done, many of the facilities were meant to be for monitoring and data collecting purposes and not really to solve the flooding problem. I think the $124m map is one of them, plus all the CCTVs and early warning system. By the time they have the map ready and all the new data, another big sum of money will be needed to implement more new measures from the new findings.
Well, money can solve all problems. True or not? Or money down the drain into the ponds? What is $750m? May not be effective as the sum is too small.
20 comments:
750m...from the SAME guy who budgeted for the YOG...enough boh?
Whatever the case, money or not, better solve the problem before it gets serious -- like underground infrastructure (MRT line for e.g.) gets affected.
For spending that kind of money, they need to put their heads(civil servants and minister) on the chopping board( otherwise, any experts will suka suka offer half pass six solutions and pocket huge fees)
They have to get this down to a science.
Guarantee that the flood issue will be resolved by at least 80% by a stipulated time frame( make sure we don't give them too much room for mistakes and miscalculation).
When the time comes and it still flood considerably, we ask all of them to cough back all the monies before we roast them in the middle of orchard road.
Don't play play with our money
This thing can set KPIs. You want to spend so much money tell us what will be the returns or results?
It's not your money anymore. Once you pay it to the state, it belongs to the state, and the state can do whatever it likes for whatever reason.
I am going to throw OPM. All line up and catch.
RB...think we approach all this thing wrongly..we should actually go with flow (mind the pun)..some suggestions...1)spot the next pond 2)tug a ponded car 3)kayaking down Orchard Rd 4) white water rafting at Tanglin Mall....the tourists potential would be enormous!!!!! we can even have a loy krathong ceremony in front of Thai embassey...the money spent will be a fraction of what PUB will spend and may even turn in a profit if events are not organised by Temasek...cheers
If you make loy krathong at Thai Embassy, just 200 meters away Orcahrd Towers will turn into Soi Cowboy or Nana Plaza.
Actually, I would quite like that.
Cheers,
HRH Prince Matilah Of Sukhumvit
What do you want?
$400+ million on the Youth Olympics (for foreigners)?
$750+ million for the Orchard Road ponding (so foreigners can shop in dry shoes)?
or
Billions of dollars in invested in foreign bank shares?
If you are smart;
Vote Opposition and get some public money spent on our Singaporean children & needy families instead.
Use money to spend on affairs
Yes, go with the flow. No point fighting mother nature or climate change. Don't waste public money if the end result is the same. The ministry must be made accountable for the $750m it is going to spend and the results it is going to achieve in terms of alleviating the ponding problem. Have more thermometers and weather vanes and maps can only tell you the problems and not solving any.
Better to convert all the ponds into water storage or water related activities to attract tourists and collect more money.
No guarantee, don't approve.
$750m sup sup suey lah. Just try, work takes credit, don't work, outsource to more foreign experts to come out with more suggestions.
Why make it easy for them? Sup sup suey...give me I go have affairs all over the world lah
all I want to know is..does the lizard eat curry
Only NATURE can help Singaporeans in their wishes for some political changes.
patriot
Wow, going to apply polymer on the walls of stamford Canal to make water flow faster. How idiotic!
How much money to waste when the cause is not how fast water moving but water not going anywhere.
@anon 916
Another moron fixated on damning the govt (not a bad idea) but is clueless about science.
Tambi, you understand hydrodynamics or not? Or more specifically physiochemical hydrodynamics?
Eh, this is not like your normal activity of picking numbers for 4-D ok? Or deciding what song to sing in karaoke. This is serious, hard-assed science.
Thanks for pointing out about hydrodynamics. I remember that the Olympic swimmers from Oz used to wear those funny suits to reduce friction. I think our Stamford Canal with the coating can also swim in the Olympics and give the Aussie swimmers a swim for their money. Maybe an Olympic record as well.
Another non engineer trying to sound smart and failing spectacularly.
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