by Jose Raymond
The resignation of Oon Jin Teik as CEO of the Singapore Sports Hub requires that we force the management of the Singapore Sports Hub to remind itself of its role when granted the rights to design, build, finance and operate the project for 25 years in Singapore.
Is it helping the sports eco-system in Singapore aiding the Singapore Government and people achieve our objectives in our vision to develop a Sporting Singapore?
While there will always be a clash of commercial versus community interests especially through the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) model the project has been engineered on, some serious questions will need to be asked if the Consortium still has problems understanding why this project is vital towards our national objectives.
Surely the Consortium has realised this when there was a handbrake pulled when it suggested to have a commercial entity have naming rights for the entire project bar the National Stadium.
After five years of operations and with a deeper understanding of the Consortium, its objectives and modus operandi, perhaps it is timely and only right that we make some important decisions in how the project needs to be managed, moving forward.
Some key questions for all of us to consider with my answers in brackets.
- Is the PPP model the right model for the Singapore Sports Hub? (NO)
- Has the consortium delivered on its promises as made public after award of contract? (NO)
- How much of the local sports industry has the Singapore Sport Hub helped to develop? (Don’t know)
- Are there alternative administration and governance models to operate the Sports Hub? (YES)
People familiar with the project will be well aware of the advice given by the late Mr Lee Kuan Yew in regards to the awarding of the contract to an external service provider over 25 years through a PPP – make sure it is the right partner.
For a deeper understanding of the vision behind the Sports Hub in relation to our greater national objectives of using sports as a means for community development, perhaps it is important for the Consortium and its team to read this document which was made public in 2001, and signed off by then-Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong.
After five years of operations, surely we must know by now that there is a clear misalignment of objectives between the Government and the service provider.
This was first published on Jose Raymond’s Facebook page and reproduced with permission
