SG Land Use: The End of US

I got this from ST '5,600 hectares more land for bigger population: Land Use Plan'

As I moved my mouse pointer over those circles, it dawn on me that we are going to become one big construction site in a hurry. I find the prospect revolting.

I am not bothering to explain the reasons from Chaos and Complexity Science here but I know they are going to screw up. There will not be congestion everywhere but there will be bad and surprising jams ambushing us, i.e., poor quality of living. Everyone will have to carry a GPS or use the unit in their smart phone to constantly check traffic and prepare to re-route. Good luck if you are riding a bus, only cars have re-routing options. Now I am only foreseeing what's like with a limited imagination. It would be worse. Meanwhile the elites (riding in cars that re-route around congestions) will enjoy the lion share of the fruits but the hoi polloi will pay the price.

By the way, who is studying the water and energy needs of such an enlarged population?

I think the PAP government could be voted out mid way before this become reality. Also like I had written in an earlier post, what make them so sure if you build the FTs will come? We might, damn it, have to price ourselves down to get them in. The trouble with all these plans is that it extrapolates into the future. It is a sure way to get it wrong as over time there are bound to be discontinuities. There is no flexibility or wisdom behind the thinking that produce these plans.

This is a terrible plan that rewards and entrenches the bad low quality economic policies of the PAP government. It is an industrial age mindset of pumping more and more inputs to get growth instead of counting on innovation and creativity. This is the result of their long years of tight top down control of the economy. Innovation and creativity is bottom up.

This government doesn't understand any alternative strategy beyond first world goods and services at third world prices - Didn't I just say we might have to price down earlier on and aren't we already doing so now and depressing wages as a result? You can forget about work life balance. We will get the big population but the three promises of the Population White Paper will only be a mirage. Because if they try to pass on first world wages, like SIA we can't compete. Why should citizens support this?

This government will promise the sky but have us end up in tears and chanting the mantra of better, cheaper and faster or starve. Then we will get high growth (easily 6% or more because of the building works) better than their projection in the White Paper till 2030 but our best and brightest will leave faster than ever. Quitters will re-enter our lexicon eh? But they are smart to leave before it is too late. You don't get quality and vibrancy when you are competing on price.

Update: 2:15pm

Just found this on CNA, "2 new commercial belts to bring jobs closer to homes"

Sounds good on paper but in real life it doesn't work well unless the commercial belts are separated far enough to discourage executives, couriers on motorbikes etc., moving between belts and contributing immensely to off peak vehicular traffic. In bigger countries, you don't on a whim drive or fly from NY to Chicago. But we our small island people will be driving to and fro between these commercial belts. Sometimes the same people do more than one round trip even in a business day.

Also with our years of town planning experience to imagine that people will live near where they work is naive. You go where there is a suitable job and what is the chance that it would be near where you live? Secondary school students very often can't walk to their schools unlike primary ones because their PSLE T-scores invariably send them much farther away. Our planners are so wishful and theoretical. More likely just like AIMgate they never bother to think through this thoroughly. It is like some say, they have made up their mind to grow the population and are now looking for justifications. That's why their arguments look so weak.  They have hidden nefarious motives?

Update: 9:30pm

I talked about congestion in my main post and here is a concrete example. 6.9 million people will occasionally have a large proportion of them congregate at a spot....

• 

  Roy Tay Higher per capita GDP does NOT equate higher standard of living, if overcrowding & high cost of living persist... 
  
  One very good example: I can't bear to see the day when I can't even step foot into Chinatown during CNY festive season by 2030... No matter how many flats & railways the Govt build, it cannot channel crowds away from certain public places during festive, public holidays. Then what's the point of building Garden by the Bay, isn't it? Wake up before its too late, this immigration-led model is politically suicide for PAP.

  2 hours ago via mobile · Like · 7

Also look at how dishonest the picture from the PM's facebook page is. Can you imagine that there will be so few people? I think you can get his sometimes in 2030 as the occasional exception.

-->