- Joined
- Dec 30, 2010
- Messages
- 12,730
- Points
- 113
Here’s the kicker: the physical infrastructure is built and maintained by LTA using taxpayer dollars, but the revenue generated from SMRT’s advertisement and leasing operations accrue to its own bottom line.
When SMRT’s profit grows, it pays an increasing dividend to shareholders, the largest of which is Temasek Holdings. Temasek Holdings does not return this growing profit pie to Singaporeans. It hordes the profit away in external reserves or otherwise invests the money at its own discretion, without needing to account to the electorate.
When SMRT meets certain Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), the Board of Directors pay its CEO and other high ranking staff a handsome salary, in the millions. Let me be clear about this: at no time is the profit returned to Singaporean taxpayers, whose dollars were used to construct and maintain the physical infrastructure.
With the view of maximizing shareholder returns, SMRT has possibly been outsourcing its engineering contracts to the lowest bidder, choosing engineering solutions and maintenance procedures that cost the least. Over time, is it any wonder why the train system has broken down more and more often? Does SMRT have any sense of moral responsibility and awareness of its deep moral obligations to the general public?
It is not only public transport that has been manipulated, quasi-privatized, and turned into a private profit centre at the expense of citizens. Telecommunications, public utilities, public housing, all have met a similar fate to some degree or other. Now, is there any wonder why the whole edifice seems to be crumbling into the ocean right before our very eyes?
- http://theonlinecitizen.com/2011/12/what-has-gone-wrong-with-smrt-lta-and-the-entire-system/
When SMRT’s profit grows, it pays an increasing dividend to shareholders, the largest of which is Temasek Holdings. Temasek Holdings does not return this growing profit pie to Singaporeans. It hordes the profit away in external reserves or otherwise invests the money at its own discretion, without needing to account to the electorate.
When SMRT meets certain Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), the Board of Directors pay its CEO and other high ranking staff a handsome salary, in the millions. Let me be clear about this: at no time is the profit returned to Singaporean taxpayers, whose dollars were used to construct and maintain the physical infrastructure.
With the view of maximizing shareholder returns, SMRT has possibly been outsourcing its engineering contracts to the lowest bidder, choosing engineering solutions and maintenance procedures that cost the least. Over time, is it any wonder why the train system has broken down more and more often? Does SMRT have any sense of moral responsibility and awareness of its deep moral obligations to the general public?
It is not only public transport that has been manipulated, quasi-privatized, and turned into a private profit centre at the expense of citizens. Telecommunications, public utilities, public housing, all have met a similar fate to some degree or other. Now, is there any wonder why the whole edifice seems to be crumbling into the ocean right before our very eyes?
- http://theonlinecitizen.com/2011/12/what-has-gone-wrong-with-smrt-lta-and-the-entire-system/
