On a breezy morning, I took a bus to town. The aircon was at full blast as usual even though the bus was only half full. All passengers on board were shivering. Water condensed outside all the windows. It was like driving in a fog. The driver had to keep the wipers on to clear moisture on the windshield.
Too much aircon is a waste
A colleague from Europe commented that “Singapore is a very cold country”. The outside temperature can be 30?C to 35?C every day. Yet our indoor temperature throughout the year is like outdoors in winters somewhere in Europe. You can’t visit Singapore without packing an extra jacket.
We teach our young children about global warming, energy saving and environmental protection when they are toddlers in kindergarten. Yet our air-conditioning systems are often adjusted to an unnecessarily low temperature everywhere, especially in offices, eateries, shopping malls and public transportation.
Do we need to use aircon to show that we are an affluent country that can afford to waste energy?
Too many plastic bags is a waste
In recent years, shops in many Asian countries have stopped giving out plastic bags to customers. In Kuala Lumpur, the cashier will ask customers whether they already have a carrier for their merchandise. In Hong Kong, shopkeepers have to pay a government levy of 50 cents for every plastic bag they give to customers or face a fine of HK$2,000. Since the law was imposed, plastic bags given out at newsstands were down by 90 percent.
In Singapore, giving away sufficient plastic bags in supermarkets, shops and wet markets is still considered as ‘good customer service’. Many shoppers won’t be shy to ask for spare ones to be used at garbage bags at home.
Plastic bags take many years to decompose. And more plastic bags is offering the convenience for every household to throw away more trash, thus producing more waste.
Too much food is a waste
A large part of the waste that we produce is leftover food – mostly from hotels, restaurants and hawker centres. According to the NEA, Singaporeans waste 790,000 tonnes of food in a year. This is equivalent to everyone throwing away two bowls of food every day.
This translates to a hefty US$1.4 billion worth of food being wasted by 5.54 million people in Singapore. In other parts of the world, 795 million people are starving accisotret.com with insufficient food.
Too many unoccupied flats is a waste
Ku Swee Yong, CEO of Century 21 Singapore, pointed out that between 2011 and 2015, the total stock of Singapore’s residential units has increased by 150,000. Over the next four years up to the year 2019, another 155,000 residential units will be completed. The stock is enough to cater to population growth in the next ten years and enough for home supply for up to 2030.
Data released by Urban Redevelopment Authority on Monday showed that sales of new private homes fell 11.6 per cent last month despite more new projects being launched. We now have a total of 24,919 vacant units in the market.
There are close to 20 EC projects being launched since 2014. In Punggol alone, there are already 8 ECs but developers are adding 2 more in the crowded market.
Despite monthly household income threshold being raised from S$12,000 to S$14,000 last August, according to Knight Frank, 40 to 50 percent of ECs launched in the past two years remain unsold. A new EC project may be over-subscribed with many e-applications. Yet the actual take-up rate can be very low. According to URA, the vacancy rate of completed EC units now stands at 14.3 percent.
Too many condo projects is a waste
After Singapore emerged from global financial crisis in 2009, the long period of vibrant sales in private properties has led to a massive boom in construction in Singapore. For more than five years, the government released new residential sites incessantly while the developers continued to build new projects unrelentingly. When the two forces become unstoppable, overbuilding is inevitable.
Since the en bloc fever in 2007, many old low-rise buildings haven been pulled down to make way for new high-rise condominium projects. The choice of demolition over refurbishment creates unnecessary waste in construction.
The East Coast used to have the blue sky, lush greenery and open view. A drive along Marine Parade Road these days can no longer see the big tall trees but countless new condominium projects. At night, many projects only have a handful of lights on.
With or without occupation, new flats start depreciation the moment they obtain their TOP. With close to 25,000 unoccupied units and another 53,512 in the pipeline, how many building materials, foreign labors and investment dollars we have wasted in this building craze?
Yes, too much of anything is a waste. One reason, developers continue to build, is to keep their staff and workers engaged with continuous works or projects. In low-period, retrenching staff is easy but to recruit again in high-periods, is difficult. Unless they can read the future trend correctly, the oversupply situation will continue until financially, it is not viable to do so.
It’s nice to think that developers bid sites at high prices in order to save the jobs of everyone. Read “Singapore’s Soaring Land Prices ‘Suicidal’ for Developers” http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2014-02-19/singapore-s-soaring-land-prices-suicidal-for-developers
Yes, too much of anything is a waste. One reason, developers continue to build, is to keep their staff and workers engaged with continuous works or projects. In low-period, retrenching staff is easy but to recruit again in high-periods, is difficult. Unless they can read the future trend correctly, the oversupply situation will continue until financially, it is not viable to do so.
It’s nice to think that developers bid sites at high prices in order to save the jobs of everyone. Read “Singapore’s Soaring Land Prices ‘Suicidal’ for Developers” http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2014-02-19/singapore-s-soaring-land-prices-suicidal-for-developers
I think the reason behind the oversupply has got to do with the Singapore government’s greed. Back in 2011, I believe they had the intention to continue importing many immigrants into the country, and perhaps give many of them citizenship or PR.
In addition, after seeing how property prices shot up quickly after the Global Financial Crisis, many developers wanted a share of the property pie to make more and more profits.
But if you remember, 2011 was also the year the Singapore government showed the worst performance in the General Election. Many citizens were unhappy with how the streets were overcrowded with foreigners and the preferential treatment they received at work compared to locals. That was also the time we experienced numerous MRT train breakdowns.
The government, sensing how it had angered the general population, quickly limited foreign labour in Singapore. Unfortunately, many of the land parcels had already been sold and developers had no choice but to continue building their residential projects.
Coupled with the many cooling measures introduced, this explains why there will be an excess of residential properties in many years to come.
Besides the greed of profits that tempted developers to bid for land parcels at high prices, many were making fast money from flipping properties from 2009 to Feb 2010 until the government introduced Seller Stamp Duty. Printing of cheap money, low interest loans and media reports on property hotspots were all drivers to make buyers jump on the bandwagon. Developers believed that if they build, buyers will come. The result is inevitable overbuilding and oversupply. Well, these are just the norms of a property cycle.
I think the reason behind the oversupply has got to do with the Singapore government’s greed. Back in 2011, I believe they had the intention to continue importing many immigrants into the country, and perhaps give many of them citizenship or PR.
In addition, after seeing how property prices shot up quickly after the Global Financial Crisis, many developers wanted a share of the property pie to make more and more profits.
But if you remember, 2011 was also the year the Singapore government showed the worst performance in the General Election. Many citizens were unhappy with how the streets were overcrowded with foreigners and the preferential treatment they received at work compared to locals. That was also the time we experienced numerous MRT train breakdowns.
The government, sensing how it had angered the general population, quickly limited foreign labour in Singapore. Unfortunately, many of the land parcels had already been sold and developers had no choice but to continue building their residential projects.
Coupled with the many cooling measures introduced, this explains why there will be an excess of residential properties in many years to come.
Besides the greed of profits that tempted developers to bid for land parcels at high prices, many were making fast money from flipping properties from 2009 to Feb 2010 until the government introduced Seller Stamp Duty. Printing of cheap money, low interest loans and media reports on property hotspots were all drivers to make buyers jump on the bandwagon. Developers believed that if they build, buyers will come. The result is inevitable overbuilding and oversupply. Well, these are just the norms of a property cycle.