Planning for Growth, Investing in Our Future

Mr Mah Bow Tan, Minister for National Development, delivered a speech last Saturday on how to meet the challenge of meeting the land use needs for greater economic activities and a larger population. One key area that he covered, which is of particular interest to me, is how to meet the transport needs of a growing population.

I find it rare that Ministry of National Development articulated clear views on how the transport needs should be fulfilled, which by right should be coming from Ministry of Transport. But that aside, there's really nothing ground breaking in Mr Mah's speech: most of what he said were already publicly announced before.

Except for one thing: he sheds more light on Downtown Line. Prior to his speech, what was publicly announced was it will be a 40-km line combining the Downtown Extension, Bukit Timah Line and Eastern Region Line. What's new is that it will consist of 33 stations. In addition, Bukit Timah Line will also cover Choa Chu Kang (previous announcements cover Millenia Walk to Bukit Panjang), and Eastern Region Line will extend all the way to Bedok Reservoir and Tampines (previous announcement covers Jalan Besar and Macpherson only).

For full speech, please click here.

Planning for Growth, Investing in Our Future (extract)

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Our Mid-Term Concept Plan Review has concluded that we have sufficient land to cater to our land needs in the future, if we use this precious resource judiciously and wisely. There would be a need for greater optimization of land-use, and trade-offs between uses will intensify. The challenge is to come up with creative solutions to accommodate land demand, while maintaining a good quality living environment. With global competition among cities, our goal is not just to provide space, but also to enhance our living environment to the extent that it becomes our competitive advantage in the attraction of talent and investment. As cities become more similar in a globalised world, Singapore can stand out as a liveable and attractive city that offers not only economic opportunities, but also social stability, and a healthy and sustainable physical environment.

Measures Required Now

This is a major challenge. But it can be done. There are many issues to consider and measures put in place now, in order to achieve this vision.

[...]

Transportation

Another important area is transportation. Singapore can be proud of our public transport system, which is reliable, convenient and affordable.

As our population grows and more visitors make their way to Singapore, greater transportation needs will have to be met. We will need to add to and extensively improve the existing road network. Existing expressways will be upgraded, and many new expressways will be added. However, as Singapore becomes more built up, land for further road widening and new roads will be limited. Some may have to pass through built-up areas, and many new roads will have to be underground or on viaduct, to optimise the use of space. These roads will be more expensive to build. But even then, there is a limit to how many new roads we can build. The trade-off will be less land for other uses, such as housing and industry. Nature areas and parks may have to go. More vehicular traffic could also compromise our living environment by generating more noise and air pollution.

We need to think of bold solutions to meet the greater transport needs without undermining the quality of our environment. One way is to improve our public transport system even more, so that we are less reliant on private transportation. A comprehensive review is being carried out by the Ministry of Transport (MOT)/Land Transport Authority (LTA) to look into the way we travel. The aim is to increase the proportion of trips taken on public transport during the morning peak period from 63% today to at least 70% over the next 10 to 15 years. This approach of heavy reliance on public transportation is not unusual. In dense cities such as New York and London, most people leave their cars at home and travel by the subway and public buses, as it is the most convenient way of moving around the city.

To achieve this, we have to invest in our public transport infrastructure and improve the service levels to provide a high quality and affordable public transport system for commuters. For a start, the Rapid Transit System (RTS) network will have to be expanded, with more rail lines added to new areas, thereby enhancing accessibility and reducing travel times. The integration between rail and bus services will also be improved for more seamless connectivity.

For instance, the Circle Line will add another 33.3 km to our rail network when it opens from 2010 onwards. It will link all existing Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) lines running into the city, greatly enhancing connectivity between suburban areas and reducing journey time for commuters considerably. Commuters travelling from Serangoon to Paya Lebar, for example, will take less than 15 minutes on the Circle Line, compared to about half an hour by bus or MRT today. The Boon Lay Extension to the East-West MRT line, when completed in 2009, will serve the needs of the people working in the Jurong Industrial Estate. LTA is currently carrying out feasibility studies for a new 33-station Downtown Line. The 40 km underground line will link up the developments in Marina Bay to estates in the Choa Chu Kang/Bukit Panjang/Bukit Timah corridor and the MacPherson/Bedok Reservoir/Tampines corridor. Beyond that, LTA will be evaluating other new lines as well as extensions to current lines in different parts of Singapore which are currently under-served by the RTS network as part of the overall master plan. In the long term, we may need to at least double our rail network.

In the area of private transport, we will continue to review and refine the various ownership and usage restraint measures to manage the growth in car usage as well as to encourage green vehicles and environmentally friendly modes of transport.