ADDENDA, MINISTRY OF TRANSPORT

MINISTRY OF TRANSPORT: MR RAYMOND LIM SIANG KEAT

Minister for Transport

We will help Singapore to be a vibrant, global city by strengthening our position as a leading transport and logistics hub. We will also help to create an attractive living environment and meet the diverse transport needs of our people by providing Singaporeans with an integrated, efficient, cost-effective, and environmentally sustainable urban transport system.

Singapore as a leading maritime city

We will continue to enhance Singapore's position as a leading maritime city, both as a top hub port, and as a centre for the full range of maritime businesses.

Singapore has been the world’s busiest container port since 2005. We will continue to make timely investments in our port infrastructure to prepare for an even busier port in the future. Despite the current economic downturn, the expansion of Pasir Panjang Terminal is proceeding without delay. Plans to construct a new port operations control centre and to deepen our port approaches are also underway. Singapore-based businesses will continue to enjoy the competitive advantage conferred by the superior international connectivity and service levels of our port.

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As an international centre for maritime businesses, Singapore also has a vibrant ecosystem of ship owners and operators, ship managers and brokers, shipping banks, maritime insurers and lawyers, and more. We will continue our industry development efforts and grow Singapore into an even more vibrant focal point where the international maritime community congregates to network and exchange ideas.

Keeping Changi ahead

Although the current economic downturn has badly affected the global aviation industry, we will continue to enhance the competitiveness and dynamism of Singapore as an aviation hub so that we can emerge stronger from this crisis and extend our lead over our competitors.

The corporatisation of Changi Airport will enable us to make a strategic shift from a position of strength. This will ensure that Changi has the flexibility to respond quickly to changes in the industry and that passengers will continue to enjoy the superior Changi Experience that is associated with the airport. The corporate entity will be better able to attract and retain talent, and to pursue overseas ventures and investment opportunities more aggressively. In this way, Changi will continue to enhance Singapore's position as an aviation hub in the years ahead.

We will continue to enhance our air connectivity through a liberal aviation policy so that both Singapore and foreign carriers can expand their network and services at Changi. To tap the potential of the Southeast Asia market, we will push for further air services liberalisation within ASEAN and between ASEAN and her key regional partners such as China and India.

The region has seen an impressive growth of Low Cost Carriers (LCC). We will continue to nurture and help these carriers grow their operations out of Changi Airport, to strengthen our hub connectivity.

Providing a people-centred land transport system

In 2008, we launched the Land Transport Masterplan to guide the development of land transport over the next 10 to 15 years.

Many of the proposals in the Masterplan represent significant changes. They require close partnership with many stakeholders, and heavy investment on the part of the Government, before they can be realised. Despite the current difficult economic conditions, we will continue to take a long-term view, to provide a high-quality and affordable land transport system that meets the diverse needs of our people and contributes to making Singapore a liveable, vibrant global city.

The majority of Singaporeans today make use of public transport as their principal mode of travel. The role of public transport would have to become even more important if we are to meet the transport needs of a growing population and economy within our land constraints while being sensitive to environmental concerns. One strategic thrust of our land transport policy is therefore to develop a public transport system that is an attractive and viable alternative to the car.

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In the year since the Masterplan was released, we have made several improvements to the public transport system including higher bus and train frequencies and faster journey times through bus priority measures. We will continue to roll out new initiatives to further improve efficiency and service levels, guided by the central idea of adopting a people-centred approach.

Over the next few years, the Land Transport Authority (LTA) will take on the role of a central bus network planner, so that the entire transport infrastructure - bus routes, rail corridors and roads - can be planned as a whole. We will improve the integration of bus and rail systems, so that travel on the public transport system is more seamless. We will continue to invest in our rail network, to serve new areas and further reduce journey times. We will drive service improvements by introducing greater contestability in the bus and rail industry, building more infrastructure and raising service quality standards. In all these initiatives, the overarching principle is to put the commuter at the centre - to focus on commuters’ key priorities such as speed, reliability, convenience, and affordability.

We will continue to invest in expanding the road network, and make use of technology to optimise the capacity of our roads. To ensure that traffic remains smooth, we will continue to refine the various car ownership and usage restraint measures, to encourage Singaporeans to reduce their reliance on cars, and to consider public transport as a choice mode of travel.

We will continue to improve the accessibility and inclusiveness of our transport system, to cater to increasingly diverse needs. Our MRT stations and public buses will be elderly- and disabled-friendly. Pedestrian walkways and bus stops will also be upgraded to make it easier for the less-mobile to move around. To improve the pedestrian walking experience, we will have more sheltered walkways as well as more extensive underground pedestrian networks and better connectivity of our transport nodes to nearby buildings, especially in the city. As cycling becomes an increasingly popular mode of transport, we will facilitate cycling, including building more cycling paths where possible.

Our land transport policies will continue to be sensitive to environmental considerations. We will strive for cost-effective measures for cleaner and greener transport, and do our part in reducing air pollutants as well as greenhouse gas emissions.