However, the disease has reached such a late stage that the patient in any case cannot be revived by any treatment, but to wait for his own demise.
Is this not the present situation of the MRT? News report titled “The MRT system will cost 900 million dollars to update” said that “the cost will be borne by the SMRT enterprise and the Land Transport Authority. The two entities are discussing the cost sharing details.”
These 900 million dollars is the cost of the mess caused by Saw Phaik Hwa. However, I cannot understand the rationale. SMRT as a private enterprise is happily earning money when it is profitable and has brought great returns year after year to its shareholders.
So why the expenditure it will incur in providing a safe transportation service has to be borne by the people of Singapore?
Such strange thing can only happen in Singapore, a country of peculiar uniqueness, right? Is SMRT actually a public or private entity?
Regardless how the Government and SMRT explain it, the people of Singapore will never quite get to the bottom of it. If SMRT is a private entity, then why the huge costs of constructing the subway system is paid by the State and the Singapore taxpayers’ money?
Especially now facing the major challenge to revamp the rail system, such expenditure has to be shared between SMRT and the people of Singapore.
If SMRT is state-owned entity, then why does SMRT act like a real private enterprise earning abundance of money year after year bringing huge profits to its shareholders only?