Orchard Road Facelift Commentary

The cloud of controversy over the Orchard Road facelift has still not lifted despite many attempts from to ease the tensions by the government.

The $40-million dollar makeover has generally received lukewarm feedback from the public due to the upgrades being either unnecessary or insignificant. Undoubtedly, this has created some feelings of dissatisfaction with the government for spending such a large amount during the current recession.

However, I feel that some of the worries put forth by the public are either unfair or unfounded.

Firstly, the makeover has its merits. The revamp to the lighting system, although not crucial, almost certainly saves energy. If the revamp was completed in a better economic climate, this would be hailed as a breakthrough for treehuggers.

Indeed, the revamp was started during the economic boom in 2005. Assuming that the boom was maintained till now, the revamp would hardly be protested. This is unfair to the goverment because the government did do it because of the boom. Many other Singaporeans also rushed in to do irrational things, such as buying properties at insane, sky-high prices. Such a move by the government would be deemed unwise, but still rational.

Furthermore, a large problem lies with the people blaming the government. The revamp might not suit the wants or aesthetic opinion of the people, but this should have been raise before the revamp. Also, the bridge proposed by one of the surveyees would either be very expensive or an eyesore (The reason being that it would either be highly aesthetic (expensive) or cheap (ugly)).

And $40 million is not a large sum of money if put in context with ideas that it should have been used to "help ease the financial strain". With 4.8 million people in Singapore, that would amount to slightly more than $8.33 per person. I believe that during the boom, the majority of Singaporeans wasted much much more of this pittance. I cannot understand why people are complaining that the government wasted the $40 million when in reality, each Singaporean wasted much more.

However, it must be admitted that the government has made a large number of mistakes. Firstly, they kept the revamp confidential, thus making the public a little unaware of the exact extent of the changes.

Secondly, the government made a very bad choice of the changes selected. Though the revamp of the lighting is fine, many of the changes such as the planting of trees and glass panels were both useless and an eyesore. Furthermore, they should not have started a revamp during the boom of 2007. A main problem would also be the bad timing chosen for the release of the information - The current recession causes much frustration over seemingly wasteful expenditure of money.

In conclusion, the Orchard Road facelift, though a waste of money, is not solely the fault of the government but also of the people. However, the government could have done more to ensure a product more acceptable to the public.