According to a Boston Consulting Group report, Singapore has the highest concentration of millionaire households in the world, with 15.5 per cent of all households boasting at least $US1 million ($940,000) in assets under management. The figure is far higher than second-ranked Switzerland, where 9.9 per cent of its households are in the millionaire category. Hong Kong came in fourth place, with 8.7 per cent.
One such millionaire Singaporean bidded $97,200 for two bottles of 200-year-old champagne ($54,000 bottle of Vevue Clicquot and $43,200 bottle of Juglar) salvaged from a shipwreck at the bottom of the Baltic Sea. Actioneer John Kapon of Acker Merrall & Conduit said the anonymous buyer now owns a piece of history.
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| Dunearn Road Submerged |
"Minister, you mentioned improvements in the building codes," prompted the reporter at the press conference conducted by said Minister after the record flood waters had safely subsided. This is something that the BCA and PUB will have to study, deflected Balakrishnan, " I'm not an engineer, so I'll take it advice on a professional level." Take that as a lesson learned from the YOG blowout, when he failed to take advice from the Russians, who had prior organizational experience with a youth olympiad at Moscow. Since flooding is now deemed an engineering problem, not merely an act of God, why do we need a millionaire minister with no engineering background?
PUB's $uper$cale $alaried CEO Khoo Teng Chye suggested several ways to alleviate future flooding in the Tanglin area, including building a pond in the Botanic Gardens, "But given the built-up situation and high cost of land, these are very expensive schemes." That must be music to the Minister's ears - if that's one thing Balakrishnan is good at, it's writing big checks.
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Indeed. Memories are flooding back quick and fast again. Either our Singapore is sinking downwards or the rainfall volume is rising upwards over the years. Whatever it is, our Ministries are caught by surprise yet over and again. What happens to the People "ACTION" Party? And what has the remedying got to do with high cost of land when they're the landowners remains baffling. It just smell like one damn good reason to flush more taxpayer money down the drain if that's what they're getting at...
ReplyDeletehttp://bit.ly/kBmDiR
Maybe for every multi-million dollar govt spending, 10% finds its way into the elites bahamas bank accounts?? Who knows??
ReplyDeleteTalking about taking advice from the Russians, I think our ruling system is not plutocracy, but more akin to nomenklatura.
ReplyDeleteAnd similar to the concept of the Japanese Amakudari.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nomenklatura
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amakudari
if the cost of the land - at today's absurd prices, driven to that level by the govt packing this country with people, and without making infrastructural preparations for them - is calculated in the bill for the remedy, the solution would certainly be ex. but since the govt Already owns the land, isn't that a huge cost savings? now u just spend on workmanship?
ReplyDeletei wonder what the orchard rd retailers think of these proclamations of solutions being expensive as they spend millions and lose millions becos their shops are regularly flooded. i wonder how many will renew their leases when those expire. and when they will revolt.
and this is just infrastructure. i wonder what will happen when, for whatever reason, this country doesn't have enough water and cannot bring in enough food for all the pple it keeps adding to this place.
will it then sing a different tune about economic growth as it is now about ministerial salary? do we have to wait till that stage for changes in the foreigner policy?
highly doubtful if anyone is even Thinking that far ahead. after all, no one considered the effects on infrastructure of having 2 million more pple, and in fact didn't even see the need for added public transport, homes, hospitals for 20 years, or bother to listen the cries of those affected.
things like this make u sneer at the quality of the creatures that ponce around in political offices. obviously a bigger swing in votes is needed.
If your father is the self appointed chairman of one of the biggest piggy banks in the world while your wife is the CEO of another one of the biggest investment houses in the world, what does that make you if by coincidence you also happen to be the Prime Minister ? A billionaire many times over ?
ReplyDeleteAnd mind you, what is another S$4M+ a year for someone to officially jaga the piggy banks for you (that is what he says) but can't we smell a rat that there is something fishy ?
I think most Singaporeans would think that the past three decades have been glorious and are grateful about it. We can't keep revisiting the past to explain what is happening today and in the future. Has the weather patterns changed so much to warrant such flooding. Any oversight during structural planning? Perhaps the minister should know that not only the weather pattern has changed but also the expectations of a new generation on its millionaire leaders!
ReplyDeleteAccording to PUB's Code of Practice of on Surface Water Drainage, drains are designed for a 50yr return period. Under the ranfall intensity duration frequency curve in Appendix 2, the intensity for which such drains are designed for a 30 min burst of rain is 170mm per hour or 85mm in 30 mins. This is way higher than the peak 65mm of rain that occurred between 10.20am and 10.50am.
ReplyDeleteI am surprised that flooding still occurs if the code is followed. Someone must relook at all drains to check if they are properly designed to the code requirement.
With regards to the purpose of Marina Barrage, according to the PUB website, the Marina Barrage is part of a comprehensive flood control scheme to alleviate flooding in the low-lying areas in the city such as Chinatown, Boat Quay, Jalan Besar and Geylang.
During heavy rain, the series of nine crest gates at the dam will be activated to release excess storm water into the sea when the tide is low. In the case of high tide, giant pumps which are capable of pumping an Olympics-size swimming pool per minute will drain excess storm water into the sea.
If the barrage is operated properly, I believe it should not cause flooding. However, the same cannot be said of other rivers which are being dammed to form reservoirs with no flood control capabilities.