US president posted a photo of the war canine hero in his tweet. Its name is not revealed because according to a US Army General, they need to protect the dog's identity as it is carrying out secret missions. The dog is under classified unit and so the dog needs some degree of anonymity.
I find this funny - isn't a picture of the dog more revealing than its name ? I suppose US president tweeted the photo without knowing that the dog is 'classify' something like a spy whose identity needs to be protected.
Tuesday, October 29, 2019
$4.7M white elephant bike parking lot
I read with disbelieve that our govt spend $4.7M to build a bike parking lot which will be scrapped just after 2 years of operation. It took 4 years to build the bike lot.
It was reported that this bike parking lot is the first auto underground parking system to be build in S'pore in Admiralty under Sembawang GRC. It was opened in Jan 18 and will be closed by Dec 19. There was a 1 month free trail at its opening and then charges were fixed at $22 for unlimited parking or 25cents/hr. The rate was increased to $48 or 45cents/hr after Apr 18.
It has 500 lots and it was reported that only 3 lots were utilized between Feb 18 to Sep 19. How can this be ? It that some mistake in reporting ? Granted it is a badly conceived project - such ridiculous take up rate means that is something very wrong with our govt planning.
What is worrying is this case could be indication of a systemic problem with our govt wanting to be a SMART nation at all cost, without thinking through what are the must have changes vs cosmetic frills. Our govt is responsible to use public fund wisely.
This bike parking lots speaks volume of govt lack of understanding of public needs and sentiment. I suppose all these ministers with high salary would not be able to understand that anyone with common sense will not pay $48 to park our bike. We cycle to MRT station....is to save money on transport. Paying for bike parking would wipe out whatever saving. Besides, bike parking is free and so convenient above ground. This underground auto parking may not be so convenient after all.
The increase in parking fee after a short period of 3 months reflected greed. I do not know the details but it does not make sense to increase fee when there is weak demand. This whole episode is a reflection of a worrying trend of governance in S'pore.
It was reported that this bike parking lot is the first auto underground parking system to be build in S'pore in Admiralty under Sembawang GRC. It was opened in Jan 18 and will be closed by Dec 19. There was a 1 month free trail at its opening and then charges were fixed at $22 for unlimited parking or 25cents/hr. The rate was increased to $48 or 45cents/hr after Apr 18.
It has 500 lots and it was reported that only 3 lots were utilized between Feb 18 to Sep 19. How can this be ? It that some mistake in reporting ? Granted it is a badly conceived project - such ridiculous take up rate means that is something very wrong with our govt planning.
What is worrying is this case could be indication of a systemic problem with our govt wanting to be a SMART nation at all cost, without thinking through what are the must have changes vs cosmetic frills. Our govt is responsible to use public fund wisely.
This bike parking lots speaks volume of govt lack of understanding of public needs and sentiment. I suppose all these ministers with high salary would not be able to understand that anyone with common sense will not pay $48 to park our bike. We cycle to MRT station....is to save money on transport. Paying for bike parking would wipe out whatever saving. Besides, bike parking is free and so convenient above ground. This underground auto parking may not be so convenient after all.
The increase in parking fee after a short period of 3 months reflected greed. I do not know the details but it does not make sense to increase fee when there is weak demand. This whole episode is a reflection of a worrying trend of governance in S'pore.
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