SG Gov to delay Infrastructure to keep out foreigners....?!

[zzm9980]

http://blogs.wsj.com/indiarealtime/2014 ... oreigners/

Singapore is delaying the construction of roughly 2 billion Singapore dollars ($1.6 billion) of infrastructure projects to limit demand for migrant labor and assuage simmering anger over immigration.

[Brah]

That quotation works better when preceded by "In an unprecedented act of kaiasu, "

[zzm9980]

I can't tell if they've just lost the plot and completed succumbed to the fears of losing xenophobic local's votes, or if it is a passive aggressive 'parental' act to teach unruly citizen/children a lesson.

Projects to be delayed include new government offices, an extension to the Gardens by the Bay horticultural complex, and a new science center. This would reduce Singapore’s demand for construction workers by 20,000-30,000 people, Mr. Lee said.

Seems they picked at least two big projects which would directly benefit locals.

[movingtospore]

Well, they probably didn't need any of those things anyways. They could probably drop about 50% of the government--driven construction projects and nobody would notice a difference. Use better materials on the roads so they don't need to be dug up once a month...etc etc.

But. I am getting heartily sick of the whining, whining, whining. The construction works don't really live here. They literally shelve them in dormintories. The taxi uncles aren't competing with them for jobs and hdbs. So really, other than the annoyance of never ending struction, wtf do locals care how many construction workers are here?

This place just makes no sense.

[movingtospore]

Hmm. And...if it takes them 30,000 construction workers to build three projects...well...I think that speaks to a bigger problem!

[ScoobyDoes]

Hmm. And...if it takes them 30,000 construction workers to build three projects...well...I think that speaks to a bigger problem!

It's not the full list, obviously.

Your point before, though, was more relevant in that cutting the volume of construction workers does nothing to solve the locals' 'problems' so yes, it is utterly pointless.

A new Science Centre is needed, but an extension to the Gardens? No. Would be interesting to see the whole list though.

[PNGMK]

The real losers will be the sometimes corrupt owners of the construction firms.

[Brah]

The construction workers don't really live here. They literally shelve them in dormintories.

What I have seen is they have them living in the buildings that they are building. A bunch of guys living in a shell of a building being renovated, some with no doors or windows. I've seen it more than once.

I would think that this is of suspect legality.

[sundaymorningstaple]

They have been doing just that at the landed property opposite my block on YCK road for the past 6~9 months now.

[JR8]

The construction workers don't really live here. They literally shelve them in dormintories.

What I have seen is they have them living in the buildings that they are building. A bunch of guys living in a shell of a building being renovated, some with no doors or windows. I've seen it more than once.
I would think that this is of suspect legality.

One time I was traveling in Israel, on a micro budget. Stayed ('squatted') in a part-built seashore condo or hotel. No doors, no windows, no nothing, just the barest unfinished concrete. Oh and in just about every room a pile of sh** in the corner, as it had no bathrooms, toilets etc either. It got so 'dodgy' (even in my more reckless early 20s) that I moved on, and ended up 'camping out', sleeping on the beach ... together with a bunch of Scandinavian chicks, mostly inside their sleeping bags ... hehe...

Manual workers are often housed within the property that they are building.

[zzm9980]

A new Science Centre is needed, but an extension to the Gardens? No.

Not needed of course not, but something directly for the locals to visit/do (low budget recreation).