'The Changi Jewel soon need to be pawned but what jewels the structure having , lol'
This quote by Aziz Kassim posted in his article about the insanity of buying electricity from Malaysia and laying pipelines all the way to Australia are signs of a bridge too far. The euphoria of good time never ends and keep on building and keep on increasing the population is beginning to sound more insane. And if the lunatics are not listening, Covid19 makes it a point that they cannot ignore the debt traps of mindless expansion for the sake of economic growth at all cost without thinking of the downside.
Changi Jewel is not the only crown jewel to be pawned. Think about the useless grandiose and meaningless structures in the Garden by the Bay that cost hundreds of millions to build and many millions to maintain. In a lockdown or semi lockdown situation like this pandemic, they stood up like sore thumbs and looked unbelieveable to waste so much money on them.
Then look at the optimistic plan for Changi with Terminals 4 and 5, both going to look like two big white elephants. Ok, ok, it is unfair to criticise such ambitious plan as no one would expect Covid19 to come along and turn the movie into slow motion and many frames frozen in time, with economic activities and flying and tourism like history lessons.
What looks no longer funny is the selling of strategic assets like power stations to foreigners and now wanting to import electricity from Malaysia and Australia. Are they going to be cheaper than what we had before?
Or is the unplanned population growth towards an increasing population that could go bigger and bigger, with no effort to restrain or to put a cap on it a natural progression that is unavoidable? Where would all these lead to? And how would things look like if there is another major crisis like Covid19 or something more serious? There is planning to grow but are there contingency plans when growing becomes shrinking?
If the world economy is not going to recover soon, or going to be in a limbo for a long time, I think we would only need one terminal at Changi and the rest can be mothballed. And SIA, what would happen to all the brand new aircraft? Lelong also no body wants.
Oops, maybe the magic cure in times like this to grow the economy is to bring in more bodies to increase consumption, ya? Bring in more bodies to create demand for more flats and more shopping centres and foodcourts and hawker centres...and more income from levies?
" only need one terminal at Changi and the rest can be mothballed " - we can call that the Changi terminal disease ! No cure !
ReplyDeleteI wonder how SIA is going to survive if air travel can only reach normality by 2024?
ReplyDeleteWhat can a plane be turned into besides flying passengers? At least a shopping mall has many other alternative uses, with a myriad of business needing space. Even then it will be hard sell in this environment. Maybe turning the plane into a shopping space selling....erh no idea!
Another year or two of mothballing and I dread to think whether the planes can fly with clogged fuel lines among other.
On another note, I wonder how the shops at the terminals are coping with little traffic and customers? With fixed rentals and salaries to boot, it certainly is not pretty for sure.
Changi Airport has been the reason and excuse that was used against the Malaysian Aviation Authority to usurp the control of Malaysian airspace by Singapore. That's why it has to keep improving and expanding to continue to gain International Aviation Authorities' approval for Singapore to control the airspace surrounding Singapore. This is part of Singapore's Air Defence strategy.
ReplyDeleteOnce Changi Airport lost its status and stature, Malaysia will take over control of their own airspace in Johore, which at present is ironically under Singapore's control. That means Malaysia's Air Force can literally come and bomb Singapore with only 4 seconds warning time. Even the AWAC or E2C will be useless in providing early warnings in such a situation.
RCEP? Will RCEP brings more CECA?
ReplyDeleteThankfully India is not in RCEP that just concluded.
ReplyDeleteAnd for heaven's sake I hope they do not invite evils into the circle as time goes by. This has been happening in the past, first on the pretext of observation purpose, then some stooge will want to invite the devil into the home. All to destroy the grouping in the end.
Hmmm, perhaps Queen Elizabeth would buy over Changi Jewel to put on her head! Who else wants it even at lelong price? Hahaha
ReplyDeleteAnyone know who is/are the jokers who mooted this idea of Changi Jewel ? Have they no brain or better ideas to spend money wisely ? Who is/are the ones who think of ways to spend tax payer money like flowing water ? They could have spent money (billion$$$ ?) or reduce taxes or GST for Sinkies.
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