I agree with the author that having a well-planned infrastructure brings people together. In small countries such as Singapore where the population density is relatively high, the above statement is especially true. As a Singaporean, I utilize infrastructures every day. Such infrastructures include public transportation and school as I need to travel from my house to school and back daily. Transportation infrastructure helps the working adults too, as many are turning to public transportation due to the high cost in car prices.  

With an average of 2.9 million commuters daily and an increasing population, it is important that the transportation infrastructure keep improving and upgrading to cater to high demand. On 7 July 2015, Singapore’s railway system, Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) had a massive breakdown during evening peak hour where more than 250,000 passengers were affected for at least 3.5 hours. After weeks of investigation, the MRT engineers and Land Transport Authority (LTA) claimed that the breakdown was attributed to poor maintenance of electrical cable. Therefore with proper planning and scheduling of maintenance dates, these breakdowns could have been avoided.

The author also mentioned that having a good highway infrastructure could achieve ‘tangible social benefit’. I agree with the author with this statement as Singapore, has a high car density as well. In order to overcome this, LTA has widen a couple of expressway in Singapore to ease the congestion during peak hours. An example would be the widening of busiest expressway in Singapore, Pan-Island Expressway (PIE) that started in 2011 and ended in 2013. I feel that this is a good initiative made by LTA as many motorist will not be caught in peak hour jams and be able to make it to work on time.  There are many other expressways namely, the Central Expressway (CTE) and Punggol Highway that have widened to improve traffic conditions.

While I agree that transportation and road infrastructure are important, I felt that the author has neglected other equally important infrastructure such as health care. In 2014, despite having 7 public hospitals in Singapore, there were still shortages of beds and wards for patients. Some patients had to wait for as long as 24 hours just to get a bed. In my opinion, these could have been prevented by building more hospitals and place them in areas with high population density. Other infrastructures including electrical power, water and buildings which the author has failed to mention.

In conclusion, I agree with many points that Cho has mentioned regarding how infrastructure can have social benefits. I believe that infrastructure is important in every city not just in King Abdullah Economic City (KAEC). In a city with a fast growing population, it is important that the building and upgrading of infrastructure keep up at the same pace. Therefore the government plays an important role in developing the country’s infrastructure so that the country strive as an economic hub.

Gregory L. Tan

-Edited 30/09/2015

References : Wikipedia on Mass Rapid Transit https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mass_Rapid_Transit_(Singapore)

Kyle Malinda (2015) - Cause of massive NSEWL train disruption in July identified, says SMRT http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/singapore/cause-of-massive-nsewl/2014794.html

Widening of PIE between Clementi Avenue 6 and Adam Road. http://www.lta.gov.sg/content/ltaweb/en/roads-and-motoring/projects/also-in-progress/widening-of-pie-between-clementi-avenue-6-and-adam-road.html

Salma Khalik, Senior Health Correspondent( 2014) http://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/hospitals-facing-severe-bed-crunch-take-unusual-steps

In the article “Developing Sustainable Infrastructure in New cities’, Cho (2014) claims that infrastructure in cities need to continuously upgrade despite having many ‘urban challenges’ These obstacles are faced in new cities such as King Abdullah Economic City (KAEC). A group of students along with the author formed a research group in Saudi Arabia known as the KAEC fellowship to assess the challenges and to see what companies are doing to overcome them.  KAEC fellowship has encompassed the Envision rating system and will award prestigious awards such as Infrastructure 360 award to companies who meets the stringent requirements. The author also states that a well-planned project will strengthen the community as many of our work and social environment revolves heavily around infrastructures. 

Gregory L. Tan

Importance of the English language

English is the international language and is therefore used worldwide. Being able to both speak and write in English would mean that I will be able to travel to most countries and not worry about any language barriers. English is important to me because I am able to communicate with my friends despite being from a different race and nationality.

In university, we will be using English to write notes from lectures. If our command of English is poor, we will not be able to write down notes of what our professor is conveying to us. Learning will be affected and there will be communication breakdown between both the professor and student. Being well-verse in English allows me to actively contribute to the teams’ report which makes learning a lot more conducive.

Being in the course Sustainable Infrastructure Engineering (Land), I will be handling projects that needs to be met by an international standard. Such standards are governed by an organization called International Organisation Standardisation (ISO). I will be able to travel across different countries and work on the same project if the countries I go to follow the same ISO standards. Therefore, English helps to unify the worlds working standards.