Ministry of Transport ‘much more’ than just about trains

SINGAPORE — Pointing out that the Ministry of Transport (MOT) is “much more” than just about MRT trains, its minister Khaw Boon Wan said today (Nov 9) the Government spends a lot of time managing critical issues — such as geopolitical challenges — while it does its best to improve the reliability of the rail system.

“This is not an excuse for the next train disruption,” Mr Khaw wrote on his blog. “We are doing our best to make our rail system even more reliable.  I just hope to get Singaporeans’ better understanding and moral support.”

Mr Khaw, who is also Coordinating Minister for Infrastructure, said that while he spends “a lot of time on rail reliability and buses”, he knows he will also have to focus on other sectors, especially the aviation and maritime sectors. For these significant sectors of the economy, there are “strong headwinds and turbulence ahead”.

He pointed out that passenger traffic growth at Changi Airport has slowed in the past two years, while some of its competitors’ continue to grow. Meanwhile, Singapore’s sea port faces constant competition from neighbouring ports. Alternative trade routes such as the Arctic Route could also result in ships bypassing Singapore, he said.

Mr Khaw also alluded to reports about Indonesia wanting to manage the flight information region over the airspace above the Riau Islands, which Singapore, with the approval of the International Civil Aviation Organization, is managing to ensure flight safety as well as efficient flight operations of airlines and airports. “This does not affect Indonesia’s sovereignty. In fact, there are many examples of countries that manage their neighbours’ airspace for the same safety and efficiency reasons.”

He added: “A little red dot in an unfriendly, fiercely competitive world, requires us to be highly focused on these strategic issues or many Singaporeans will get hurt. How we negotiate these huge geopolitical challenges can be life and death to Singaporeans.

“We do not say a lot about such challenges in public, and Singaporeans may not be fully aware. But we spend a lot of our management time and bandwidth on these critical issues.”