BUS VERSUS RAIL DEBATE

It took 10 years since 1972 to design the MRT system,which continued all the way until the government gave permission to build the MRT.Between 1972 and 1980,the participants of the study was the late President Ong Teng Cheong.He was then a member of the Ministry of National Development's Planning Department,after returning from overseas studies that same year.He became a fervent supporter and advocate of a rail based system;being an architect and an urban planner placed him in good stead.During the study,other countries were visited to study the technology and efforts needed to build the MRT system.When he became the then-Minister for Communications(now the Ministry of Transport),he had to convince the cabinet in a debate in early 1980,that the S$5 billion needed for the system would be beneficial for the long-term development of Singapore.He argued that ''this is going to be the most expensive single project to be undertaken in Singapore.The last thing that we want to do is to squander away our hard-earned reserves and leave behind enormous debt for our children and our grandchildren.Now since we are sure that this is not going to be the case,we'll proceed with the MRT,and the MRT will usher in a new phase in Singapore's development and bring about a better life for all of us.''Therfore,a provisional Mass Rapid Transit Authority was established in July 1980,after the debate.However,Mr Ong faced strong opposition from other members of the cabinet,by Finance Minister Goh Keng Swee,due especially to the heavy investments involved.A team of specialists from Harvard University,recommended that an all-bus system would be sufficient into the 1990s,and would cost 50% less than a rail-based system.Later on,two independent American transport and urban planning specialist teams were then appointed by the government to conduct their own independent reviews as part of the Comprehensive Traffic Study in 1981.This debate was also brought to national television in September 1980,which was rare at that time.The study came to a conclusion that an all-bus system would be inadequate as it would have to compete for road space which would have been increasingly overcrowded by then.The problem would be solved by building a rail system.Mr Ong hence declared in triumph on 28 March 1982,that''the Government has now taken a firm decision to build the MRT.The MRT is much more than a transport investment,and must be viewed in its wider economic perspective.The boost it'll provide to long term investors' confidence,the multiplier effect and how MRT will lead to the enhancement of the intrinsic value of Singapore's real estate are spin-offs that cannot be ignored.''