A statement like this tickles a lot of thinking and questioning. Are the Indians stupid and not able to build their own smart cities? Are we smarter than the Indians to build smart cities for them? Who is going to pay for the building of smart cities? Would we end up building the smart cities using our public fund and paying for it?
We have been telling the whole world that we don’t have the talents and needing foreign talents to come and help us. And we are importing all the talents from India to help us. Practically every Indian with some talents are here, or in Europe and US. Perhaps that is the reason why the Indians could not build their own smart cities. They have lost their talents to the world and to us.
So what is the likely formula to help the Indians build smart cities? We bring in Indian talents and used our money, packaged it and bring the whole lot to India, Indian talents and Singapore money, to build smart cities for India.
Can it be like that? I can’t find the local talents here to do the job. Our people just don’t have the skill sets for such a high tech project. Our talents are only equipped to drive taxis. Or would we be asking the recruitment agents to recruit the talents from India for this job?
So, may I ask how much are we going to spend and what is the protection clause to ensure that we get our money back and not dump it into a bottomless pit because it is OPM? Is this another I want, I want project? Sure the potential of building another 100 smart cities is there, like Suzhou. And on paper the benefits are tremendous, like Suzhou and the F1. And the intangible benefits could reach sky heaven. The bottom line is what is real, how much is it going to cost us and how much are we getting in return and not another few hundred millions for the intangibles.
The Chinese were smart enough to learn from one Suzhou Park to go on and build many other industrial parks on their own. The Indians with all their talents that are more talented than our talents would be equally smart to build their own smart cities after we build one for them. We have so far proven that we are not as smart as the Chinese or Indians. It is time to learn from our stupidity and not to keep reinforcing it and wasting our money like OPM.
Remember CECA!
Who doesn't know how to spend OPM to make a name for himself? How many millions has Singapore spent on the Nalanda University?
Kopi Level - Yellow
Hi RB, speed, I must admit I am not too sure what a " smart city " is. Can you please enlighten? Is Singapore already a smart city? I do not know why India would require help from Singapore to build such a city. Please enlighten this ignorant person.
ReplyDeleteActually no need to go India to build a smart city. Just turn sg into one and with ceca get more Indian to come and sg become India smart city. Tio Bo?
ReplyDelete"Who is going to pay for the building of smart cities? Would we end up building the smart cities using our public fund and paying for it?"
ReplyDeleteRB
Hahahahaha. I would think that is most probably the case.
Help means help with money lah. And Sinkieland has lots of money in our reserves, tio bo?
The only difference is helping down there and not down here.
"The only difference is helping down there and not down here."
ReplyDeleteAnon 9:57 am
Tiok. Helping foreign talents in Sinkieland alone is not enough for GDP growth.
Must also help foreign talents in their own land. Then GDP growth will be even better, faster and maybe cheaper too.
If not, what other or better reasons for helping, u tell me lah?
But why Chok Tong and PAP in general still got the power to help hah?
ReplyDeleteIf Sinkies are unhappy with their power, they can surely do something about it, tio bo?
If they will not or cannot, then Sinkies are really daft lah. And for being daft, they deserved not to be helped at all and to become taxi drivers to help themselves.
Hi Speed, sorry, I am not a super talent and I too don't understand what is a smart city. The only thing I can guess is that the city is so smart to do everything and the people no need to do anything, live and enjoy themselves.
ReplyDeleteOr as I say, the people don't even need to think about anything, the traffic lights will automate and change colours and will tell the people when they can cross the road.
A good example is the train station. The traffic lights will tell the people when the train is crowded and when to take the next train or change to other modes of transport.
I hope in a smart city the people don't spit everywhere, shit everywhere and litter everywhere. And one question, do the people living in a smart city needs to have a degree or be smart?
1. Whose money is going to be used to build the Indian smart city?
ReplyDelete2. How exactly does this project benefit Singaporeans?
The Indians will be full of praise to the one who throw them the money.
ReplyDelete"How many millions has Singapore spent on the Nalanda University?"
ReplyDeleteRB
Just google George Yeo and Nalanda and u will find all the answers.
But then sorry lah, unlike Chok Tong, George Yeo now no more power already. But money maybe got a lot more lah, since he was headhunted as foreign talent to the private sector in HK.
If GCT has nothing better to do - he should just quietly disappear from the scene and not do any more damage.
ReplyDeleteYou can shit anywhere in Smart City. The toilet bowl will smartly pop up under your butt when you are ready.
ReplyDeleteYou mean 100 million toilets?
ReplyDelete100 million toilets for 1.26 billion population will still mean shitting and pissing into longkangs, bushes and maybe any corners no one watching. The shortfall is just too big.
ReplyDeleteAny Sin contractors get to build toilets in India will become instant multi-billionaires. Or even trillionaires if paid in rupees.
We all know what he can't help India built is a happy city, cause this smart city is again at the bottom of the class in the world happiness index score card.
ReplyDeleteGreat news
ReplyDeleteWooden head n peanut lady have a special craving 4 all things black
Will investment be like a black hole 2?
When the whole country is a big slum and he is offerring to build smart cities? Didn't he know that building decent cheap HDB flats would benefit more Indians than one or two expensive smart cities?
ReplyDeleteDaft Sinkie thinking.
What matter most...
DeleteThe koret people benefits
Stop thinking like daft.
Maybe a smart city will come up with an anti-rape device to be distributed to all the women of India. Problem solved?
ReplyDeleteWah. Does that mean Singapore is actually going to take a huge chunk of money from the Indians?
ReplyDeleteWell done, and well played! Damn hard to get money from these fellas!
Would the PM tell the ESM to use his own money and make it his own private project since he is so enthuse about it?
ReplyDeleteUnder the GIC/TH people policy of losses will be publictised and profit privatised, there is no harm for them to 'help' those poor indians in return for the private parts to gain access to india resources.
ReplyDelete