A netizen named Eric Ng took to Facebook on Sunday (18 October) to slam the design of the bicycle path at the newly-opened Changi Jurassic Mile.
The 3.5-km attraction, which opened its door to the public on 11 October this year, displays over 20 dinosaur models for public viewing, and connects Changi Airport and East Coast Park.
Mr Ng said that those who designed the pathway should get themselves educated, and that the whole attraction is a “waste of taxpayers’ money”.
“The Institute and people who designed this as a bicycle path ought to go back to school or replace their brain with their kidney. They would get better results,” the man said.
He added, “A waste of taxpayers’ money”.
In the post, Mr Ng also highlighted the fence placed to cordoned off the dinosaur models was also too low as it allows people to climb over the fence and vandalise the statues.
“Looking at the fence, its obvious that there are many aspiring spiderman around… what a mess!!” he wrote.
Other netizens who commented and shared Mr Ng’s post pointed out that the about 2m-wide bicycle path is too narrow for both pedestrians and cyclists to use it at the same time. They added that the Government should have focused on designing a proper “cycling Park Connector Network (PCN)”, and only add an attraction if the space and resources permit it.
Wyvin Cheong added, “The path seems like a bottleneck with gawking walkers, strollers, cyclists, fence climbers and everything else. An accident waiting to happen”.
Blogger Andrew Loh who shared the post questioned the purpose of the attraction. He said, “The path is actually part of the PCN, and so you have visitors clashing with cyclists. Visitors would stop and take photos, jamming up the route.”
He added, “Anyway, really quite pointless – dinosaurs at the ariport? What is that supposed to mean?”
Vandalism of the dinosaur models
Besides the cycling path being too narrow for both cyclists and pedestrians to use, the poor design of the fence also allowed the dinosaur models to be vadalised.
A recent report by The Straits Times highlighted how the figures were damaged by the public. It said that a video of a woman rocking back and forth on a baby dinosaur exhibit started making the rounds earlier this week. If that’s not all, the hatchling emerging from its egg was also seen missing with five teeth.
A spokesman for Changi Airport Group (CAG), which commissioned the dinosaur display, noted the exhibit has sustained some damage, and will be temporarily removed for repair work.
“We will be adding cautionary signs along Changi Jurassic Mile to remind visitors not to climb on the exhibits. There are also surveillance cameras in place to monitor movements along the path,” said the spokesman to ST.
In Mr Ng’s post, netizens also agreed that there are “climbers” who broke the tooth of the dinosaur statue.
