Out of the box Big and small
For the past many decades, I observed that many people do not have a sense of "big or small". They tend to overspend because they do not know what is an acceptable cost.

They say - infrastructure is important, but they do not know that we may be spending too much on infrastructure or paying too much for a particular project.

Recently, I was shocked to learn that we spent $4.85 billion to build the last 5 stations of the Circle Line and the cost per km was five times of the earlier stages of that line. The reason was - difficulty in tunneling for the last stage. 

$4.85 billion is a lot of money. It is about one quarter of the annual spending on infrastructure projects. Is this project so important that we should spend so much? Are there better projects to spend this money?

I do not mind building the last stage but at a much lower cost, sat $1 billion. $4.85 billion is too much, far too much.

I agree that it is nice to complete the Circle Line, but it is not critical. If the line does not form a circle, it does not pose any disadvantage. Most travelers do not travel one line in a circle. All the other lines do not join together anyway.

If we do not spend this sum, we could use this sum to give $1,400 for every citizen - senior citizen, adult and children. A family of 4 people can receive $5,600. It can help the family finances.

We can also reduce the water tax, GST or health care bills. This will reduce the cost of living. 

Some people disagree with me. They said - infrastructure is important. They seem to think that it is the only important thing. Many other things in life are also important. If we can reduce the cost of living, more families may find it affordable to have more children. Surely, this is more important that completing the Circle Line?

Many people do not have a sense of proportion, a sense of "big and small". They think that a particular project is important, but they do not know what is enough, and what is too much.

We need to exercise critical thinking.

Tan Kin Lian

Vote - do you agree that it is important to consider the cost and to know what is acceptable and what is too much?

 

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