UNCONFIRMED - SMRT had prior knowledge of what caused the breakdown

[1sickpuppy II]

Penny wise, pound foolish. The same can be said of almost all govt/GLC contract jobs.

For example, if the govt asks three companies for the quotations of a project,

Company A charges $20K
Company B charges $30K
Company C charges $18K

Company C will always get the job. The lowest bidder always gets the job. Efficiency, reputation, speed, quality etc are largely ignored.

Also, you have to wonder why SMRT has to stubbornly seek cost-effective (read: cheap) solutions? Is SMRT facing severe financial difficulties, so much so that belt-tightening measures have to be implemented? Will the cost savings trickle down and translate into lower fares for commuters?

Or are they seeking their own selfish cost-cutting KPIs and thus obtain fatter salaries and bonuses?

Singaporeans, you are witnessing first-hand the perils of crony capitalism, which you had always closed one eye to. If you're not angry yet, you should be. Because the next cock-up under these self-serving nincompoops may result in deaths, perhaps even the deaths of your loved ones.

Saw Phaik Hwa is just the tip of the iceberg. The rot extends far down to her lieutenants and underlings, and stretches into the realm of abject political leadership. It seems that the mainstream media is portraying Saw Phaik Hwa as the bogeywoman to absorb all blames, but do not be distracted from the fact that this has been a systemic failure.

No need to wait for the next time it already happened a good example is the nicole highway incident.

 

[batman1]

Maintenance savings/Bottomline of SMRT overrides Safety of commuters .This evil woman has 3 choices:To Resign or Be Sacked or Commit Harakiri.

 

[lianbeng]

lianbeng says, "no wonder she still thick skin refuse to balek kampong. all of them know liao lah."

 

[travelbug]

Well the latest news from CNA this morning 19 December is that she will NOT resign. Guess she has the backing of Ho Ching & Pinky Loong. Not sure whether Lui Fuck You supports her staying probably seething but what can Lui Fuck You do, he is powerless.

 

[eatshitndie]

the 3rd rail which carries high voltage was brought to every forumer's attention some years ago in this forum when we were discussing why sinkies were allowed to walk between tracks. pic of sinkies walking between tracks was included. i pointed out that anyone who touched the 3rd rail by accident would be fried like goreng pisang.

 

[aurvandil]

Well the latest news from CNA this morning 19 December is that she will NOT resign. Guess she has the backing of Ho Ching & Pinky Loong. Not sure whether Lui Fuck You supports her staying probably seething but what can Lui Fuck You do, he is powerless.

Not likely. She is more like TT Durai, unable to understand or accept that she has been excommunicated and on the way out.

Protocol wise, she has spoken out of turn. When the Minister, Deputy Prime Minister and Prime Minister speaks to the nation, PM Lee should be accorded the respect of having the last word.

A lowly CEO of a GLC should not be calling a press con and trying to have the last word. What's worse is if what you have to say is self serving, enrages Singaporeans and makes the political damage even worse.

 

[streetsmart73]

Exactly as what I wrote in my earlier posts.And that they are treating the symptoms with panadol but the sickness will eventually flare.My other speculation is who should bear the hefty cost?LTA or SMRT?.......this question will eventually arise since all infrastructures still belong to LTA and SMRT only had leased them.

hi there


1. it is all about bottomline thing!
2. you die your biz, according to ah saw.

 

[rodent2005]

Penny wise, pound foolish. The same can be said of almost all govt/GLC contract jobs.

This disease permeates the entire Singapore when everyone from PAP ministers to kopi tiam bosses say "hire foreign talent because they are cheaper". Cost is the only factor they ever consider, shoving quality, honesty, reliability and credibility aside.

 

[streetsmart73]

Not so easy.Remember how HDB pushed the blame on leassee(owners) when their windows started falling as killer litters?Which actually is HDB responsibility.In order to shift the blame to people PAP have to change the laws.......Hence whether it is SMRT or LTA's liability depends on the terms of their contractual lease.

hi there


1. aiyoh!
2. such organizations and establishments are all state-owned and controlled.
3. left pocket out right pocket in mah!
4. all-in-one-familee.

 

[Goh Meng Seng]

Are you sure or not? LOL!

SMRT engaged the Hong Kong consultants, not the British. Don't anyhow smoke lah! I happen to know one of the Hong Kong consultant they have engaged!

Goh Meng Seng

In the early days, without any experience in running an MRT, LTA engaged the services of consultants and many of these consultants are British consultants. This is why many British concepts, such as third rail, are incorporated into our system. One feature adopted in Singapore which most other countries do not adopt is the fine for underpaid ticket. In other countries, you simply have to add fare and no fine.

 

[streetsmart73]

Maintenance savings/Bottomline of SMRT overrides Safety of commuters .This evil woman has 3 choices:To Resign or Be Sacked or Commit Harakiri.

hi there


1. ah batman!
2. there is also the 4th choice leh.
3. seconded as some senior advisor to temasek holdings mah.

 

[Fook Seng]

Are you sure or not? LOL!

SMRT engaged the Hong Kong consultants, not the British. Don't anyhow smoke lah! I happen to know one of the Hong Kong consultant they have engaged!

Goh Meng Seng

Of course it is true. I happened to be involved in some tender bids on signalling, turnpikes and carriages and their key consultant is an British Ang Mo guy. Any HK guys could be his underlings whom we do not see at key meetings. I do not write off the possibility that some Hong Kongers were employed as staff. But I did not see a consultant.

 

[Goh Meng Seng]

The earliest MRT system (N-S line) was built with the help of HK consultants. There is no doubt about that. Dunno what you are smoking early in the morning.

Goh Meng Seng

Of course it is true. I happened to be involved in some tender bids on signalling, turnpikes and carriages and their key consultant is an British Ang Mo guy. Any HK guys could be his underlings whom we do not see at key meetings. I do not write off the possibility that some Hong Kongers were employed as staff. But I did not see a consultant.

 

[Nice-Gook]

Consultants?There were many.English,French,Germans and what not.Each specializing in their own field.Japanese figured in the equation too.Their specialty more on construction than others.LTA spared no effort on engaging consultants of various nationalities .....but it was LTA that is the ultimate decision maker which can override an excellent consultancy in favor of the cheapest.Besides,if things goes wrong LTA can always blame the consultants as scapegoats.

Anyway,there is 1 thing every consultant unanimously agreed upon.That is LTA can never recover it's capital cost sunk......But PAP wanted to outsmart all consultants by taking the away capital cost from the balance sheet.And create SMRT only with daily expenditures and income...so profits can be shown.

But any accountant worth his salt knows that all machinery and fixtures has a depreciating value and that the maintenance cost of these structures goes to profit and loss account.

The root of the problem lies with LKY insistence that all institutions must remain individually profitable ---leading to privatization.Bur who actually benefits in privatization of public state assets is quite obvious.Obviously those with the capital and most importantly the expertise.Now do you folks realize why Lee's family positioned themselves in telecoms (Singtel) and Temasek Holdings?

 

[kingrant]

Fully agree. Spot on.

A lowly CEO of a GLC should not be calling a press con and trying to have the last word. What's worse is if what you have to say is self serving, enrages Singaporeans and makes the political damage even worse.

 

[Thick Face Black Heart]

If SMRT was really completely unaware as CEO Saw is claiming, then the situation is potentially even more serious since thousands of Singaporeans are riding every day on a potential death trap.

GMS posted this on FB:

[h=6]I'm not an engineering student but hearing from a friend who's a consultant for one of the firms contracted by SMRT. He said this...


SMRT contracted some firms as their advisor on the engineering problems.. machiam like outsource. then they get their own people to fix. apprarently, the advisors tell them must change the whole third rail use new material, but one of the ah tiong in house engineer of SMRT say like that not cost efficient so they use some screws and bolts to "fix" the droppping thing instead of doing an actual repair.. that's why not screwed up cos temp fix drop again.. KNN fark that ah tiong engineer.[/h]

 

[jw5]

A lowly CEO of a GLC should not be calling a press con and trying to have the last word. What's worse is if what you have to say is self serving, enrages Singaporeans and makes the political damage even worse.

The problem all along is that she has never seen herself as being lowly or being in the business of service to the public.
Her lack of focus and direction is there for everyone to see. Look at the sgx announcement page for smrt for this year. It is full of resignations, new appointments and promotions, compared to other listed companies. Don't know if that was the cause or effect, but her poor leadership is apparent. If u asked her to assess her performance before this incident, she would probably tell u that the retail shops and advertising space are all occupied and sales of perfumes and bubble tea have never been higher.

Someone should tell her that if there is another catastrophic incident which tragically results in fatalities, she is the one with blood on her hands.
This issue is so serious, it's not just about public transport prices or delayed trains or over-crowding anymore.
Perhaps Lui should be the one to tell her this. Now the pressure has to go on him.

 

[aurvandil]

Heard rumours that there might be a mass resignation from the Board of SMRT soon.

 

[Capano2121]

Of course there will be mass resignation because it is everybody else's fault & not hers & she will bring in DFS retail specialist to fill up the vacancy!

 

[Narong Wongwan]

hi there


1. ah batman!
2. there is also the 4th choice leh.
3. seconded as some senior advisor to temasek holdings mah.