Veteran architect and Adjunct Professor at the Department of Architect at the National University of Singapore (NUS) Tay Kheng Soon took to his Facebook on Sunday (13 October) to slam the poor design of footpaths in the country.
In his post, he uploaded a picture of a sidewalk and said that it is a “bad design” as almost a meter of the sidewalk is wasted.
“If the pillars are planted on top of the retaining wall and the open drain is covered, the footpath will be that much wider at very little extra cost,” he suggested.

A few minutes later, the renowned architect took to his Facebook again to upload another image of a different footpath, which he opines has a “much better design”.
“This is a much better design where there is more space. The pillars are at the edge and don’t have an unnecessary bulky base,” he wrote.

 
A Facebook page called “Singaporeans supporting the government because of covered walkways” also shared Prof Tay’s post and mocked the poor design.
For those who are not aware, this page is a satire on how sheltered pathways are presented by the Government as a election goodie to win votes.
In its post, it wrote: “This cannot do!! This is borderline blasphemy to our scared covered walkways !! Almost 1 metre has been reduced to the walkable area and we have to share this same narrower path with marauding PMDs !!!” sarcastically insulting the bad design by the Government.

However, it’s important to note that the poor design of pedestrian walkways that Prof Tay highlighted in his first post is very common in the country. It is built in such a way because the overhead shelter is usually constructed after the pavement is built.
The construction of covered walkways involve multiple agencies. The Land Transport Authority (LTA) builds and maintains covered walkways which connects transport nodes to nearby amenities as well as maintains covered linkways within road reserves or on state land.
On the other hand, Housing and Development Board (HDB) offers covered walkways between residential blocks to precinct facilities such as multi-storey car parks when designing new developments. However after these are constructed, the town council maintains them and they can opt to build more walkways using its own funds, or by taking from HDB’s Remarking Our Heartland programme or Neighbourhood Renewal Programme.
As such, we wonder if shelters are such an important element to the town’s infrastructure, why don’t the HDB plan the sheltered walkways when they first build the estate, instead of having the town council to build the much needed sheltered walkways later on?

Subscribe
Notify of
0 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
You May Also Like

Technology is creating both new challenges and new opportunities for the financial crime compliance community, says Singapore regulator at ICA’s 2nd APAC Conference

The evolution of technology is enabling myriad capabilities for regulatory and financial…

退休银行家献议 长期投资回报预估交国会审批

一名退休银行家今日在个人脸书发表建议,淡马锡控股、政府投资公司(GIC)和金融管理局(MAS)的长期投资预估多少、决策政府可以动用多少储备,不妨交给国会来商讨和批准。 昨日(本月8日),新加坡总统哈莉玛,与总统顾问理事会成员,聆听副总理暨财政部长王瑞杰,向她汇报本届政府对于相关资产投资的长期实得回报推算。 哈莉玛解释在准备年度财政预算案上,这个环节十分重要,他们将审视有关回报预估,在国家储备净投资回报收益(NIR)框架下,预估回报用来决定政府可以动用多少储备。 与会者还包括金管局、政府投资公司以及淡马锡控股的代表。哈莉玛指出,她将在总统顾问理事会咨询下,检视政府的提案。 至于退休银行家Chris Kuan则点评,上述三家机构提出他们的观点支持有关储备金的财政规则,这并无不妥。但也提出,总统不一定是投资专家,这种情况下总统要如何提出不同观点、乃至挑战三家机构提出的回报假设? 他认为,现有机制理应能做得更好,目前基于投资策略问题,则显得有欠透明;他献议交给国会讨论,包括投资授权、增加股权等,都能在国会批准,而总统则回归到象征性的批准提案。 至于民选议员和一般民众,至少能获得知情权,在讨论过程中才对国家储备金怎么用,才有一定的了解。他也补充,即便挪威人在管理储备金上也是这么做的,藉此增加民众的信任和支持。也可以减少因为信息误解,导致必须动用《防假消息法》的窘况。

全国皮肤中心女医生确诊 曾与三医生近接触

全国皮肤中心一名32岁女医生昨日(26日)确诊感染,成为我国第二名确诊感染的医生。 根据卫生部文告指出,昨日共有14起新增病例未与其他病例相关,而当局仍在追踪该病例所接触过的人。 据了解,其中一起则是全国皮肤中心的助理咨询师(第666例),是一名32岁本国女医生。该名医生不曾到受影响国家和地区,她在本周二出现症状后,于昨日早上确诊,目前正在中央医院接受治疗。 而女医生也在确诊前一天曾去上班,她在为病患提供皮肤病咨询期间也戴上手术口罩和手套,与病患接触的时间也少于30分钟。 但她仍然与另三名医生有过密切接触,目前三人已拿缺席假。 全国皮肤中心昨晚发文告指出,女医生确诊前一天曾去上班,她在为病患进行皮肤病咨询时,有戴手术口罩和手套,与病患接触的时间也少于30分钟。 经追查发现,女医生曾与另外三名医生有过密切接触,三人已接获缺席假通知。中心也表示,作为预防措施,任何出现呼吸症状的全国皮肤中心职员,也会接受检测。 中心在声明中也指出,中心在接获医生确诊通知后,也立即将诊所、高接触等候区域等彻底消毒,昨日傍晚也再次进行消毒。 上月14日,卫生部也通报一名在私人医院百汇班台(Parkway Pantai)工作的61岁麻醉师(第59例)被感染。 本月11日,也有一名在黄廷方综合医院工作的菲律宾籍本地护士(第167例)确诊。她37岁的菲籍丈夫也确诊(入境病例)。不过院方强调该名护士此前没接触确诊病例。

S’porean healthcare volunteer at Expo isolation facility tests positive for COVID-19

A 52-year-old Singaporean woman who was volunteering at the Singapore Expo community…