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I was reading http://remembersingapore.wordpress.com/201...re-mrt-history/ and have been thinking... lots of policies in the early days were very good, but many have deteriorated or gone haywire now what has gone wrong? HDB: - took over the responsibilities of the previous bo-zho-gang Singapore Improvement Trust - established to resettle the farmers, villagers and low-income residents - to build affordable public housing for Singaporeans What has gone wrong? - supply-demand becomes a factor in the building of flats, instead of meeting the basic needs of residents - private developers taking part (DBSS), resulting in ridiculous sky high prices (the Tampines $888,000 flat was the big joke) - free market strategy leads to speculations and viewing HDB flats' as an investment tool MRT: - developed to improve the overall efficiency of public transport - to link up the new towns to the city, making travelling time shorter - to ease traffic congestions What has gone wrong? - top priority given to revenues, profits and shareholders' interests, neglecting the basic needs of commuters - lack of maintenance leads to frequent breakdowns - population explosion leads to more MRT lines needed, which in turn need higher ridership (more people) to support its operation and revenues Hawker Centres: - established to resettle street hawkers, improving hygienic conditions and illegal hawking - to provide affordable food for the masses What has gone wrong? - the construction of hawker centres were totally stopped for 2 decades, and new towns such as Sengkang and Punggol have no hawker centres. Private syndicates are allowed to build their major food centres (such as the one at Sengkang central), causing inflation in the prices of food (at least they are rectifying this problem) COE: - to control vehicle population What has gone wrong? - car dealers and taxi companies allowed to hog quotas and bid in open markets - fluctuations so large that the same car can cost double in two years ERP: - to ease traffic congestion at major motorways during peak hours - to replace the Area Licensing Scheme in city areas What has gone wrong? - ERP also implemented in non-major motorways and during non-peak hours - becomes a revenue-generating sort of tax applied to the drivers

The club insists that its non political. Tan Cheng Bok question the timing of the help. Any rotarians here?

While shopping around for a new car, I was thinking. Is there such a PI that offers a flat fee service to import a new car? This means the buyer pays the Shipping, OMV, ARF, GST, COE, Insurance, any other related government fees that is stated black and white. On top of that, they pay a pre-agreed agent flat fee for importing the car. This will ensure a fixed profit or fee for the agent's efforts, and the buyer will get a fair deal as anything else other than the agent fee will be mandatory government taxes, etc. Does such a scheme exist or anyone offers such a service? Just a thought out loud. May be a good business idea too, cus the agent don't need to hold any inventory as it's per case basis

I am amazed at the low cost carriers for coming up with the most beautiful paint schemes any aircraft can ever get. Here are some examples. From South Africa: Kulula Airlines [inline kulula.jpg] Their competitor, Mango. [inline Mango-flights.jpg] BTW, Kulula said they will give a party to Mango should they make a profit target. 1time Airlines. Why 1Time? It is South African colloquial speak for "for real!" [inline 1time.jpg]