HIDDEN_ADDENDA, MINISTRY OF TRANSPORT

MINISTRY OF TRANSPORT: MR RAYMOND LIM

Minister for Transport

We will help Singapore to be a vibrant, global city by strengthening our position as a leading transportation and logistics hub in the world. We will also help to create an attractive living environment by providing Singaporeans with an effective, efficient and affordable urban transport system.

Building a world class hub port and maritime sector

Singapore is currently the world’s busiest port. Despite intense competition, we have maintained our hub port status by building on our efficiency, reliability and connectivity. To ensure that we stay ahead, we will expand Pasir Panjang Terminal over the next six years to become a world class megaport with a capacity of over 30 million TEUs, which will enable it to maximise its operational efficiency and handle the largest future-generation container ships.

We will also continue to develop and promote Singapore as Asia’s premier international maritime centre. Our aim is to grow a strong and vibrant cluster of maritime services to be a second engine of growth for our maritime sector, creating new business and employment opportunities for Singaporeans.

Keeping Changi ahead

Further entrench Singapore as a key air hub, Changi Airport will be opening Terminal 3 in 2008, bringing our total handling capacity to 67 million passenger movements a year. With T2’s recent upgrading and T1 to be upgraded over the next few years, all three Terminals will be able to continue to offer passengers the sort of service that even other airports talk about - the "Changi Experience".

We will also support the growth of airlines at Changi by keeping costs competitive and incentivising them to operate new services and grow Changi’s network. We will continue with our liberal aviation policy to allow both Singapore and foreign carriers to expand their network and services at Changi. We currently have 17 "Open Skies Agreements" (OSAs) with other countries, and will pursue further liberalisation of our Air Services Agreements with key partners such as China, India and ASEAN countries. We are also working closely with our ASEAN partners to fully liberalise ASEAN’s aviation regime by 2015.

Our Budget Terminal is up and running and doing well. We will facilitate its growth by encouraging more regional budget airlines to fly here.

Providing a high quality urban transport system

We continue to strive to provide Singaporeans with a high quality and affordable transport system. A critical pillar of such a system must be a world class public transport system. This is because the vast majority of Singaporeans will use this as the principal mode of travel, and increasingly so with a growing population and the need to restrain private transport because of our land constraints. We will therefore continue to invest in our public transport infrastructure and work with the public transport operators to improve service levels.

We will extend our rapid transit system (RTS) network, bringing the RTS to new areas and reducing travel times. The Circle Line will greatly enhance inter-suburban connectivity and cut down travelling time. LTA will also complete the feasibility studies in the next few years for the 40 km Downtown Line, which will enhance connectivity across the island to the Marina Bay.

Buses will continue to be a key part of our public transport system. We will drive improvements through enhanced service quality standards, focusing on commuters’ priority concerns such as reliability, waiting time, and keeping transfers to a minimum, whilst keeping fares affordable.

We will also increase the accessibility of our transport system. Our RTS network is already disabled-friendly, and all new buses since 2006 are also wheelchair-friendly. Commuter facilities such as walkways and bus stops will also be upgraded to make it easier for the less mobile to move around.

To ensure congestion-free roads, we will continue to refine the various ownership and usage restraint measures to reduce reliance on cars. Besides developing a comprehensive road network, we will continue to make use of technology such as intelligent traffic systems to improve the efficiency of our roads.

As we continue to evolve our land transport policies and strategies to meet the changing needs of our economy and our society, we will take stock of the 1996 White Paper on a World Class Land Transport System and work with stakeholders to develop a new roadmap to guide the key land transport developments over the next 10 to 15 years.