Orchard Road facelift- was is really worth it?

The statistics have shown that the recently proposed and completed have not been well-received by the public of Singapore. Furthermore, the purpose of the orchard road facelift was not throughly achieved and for $40,ooo,ooo, it's really something not to be condoned. In this essay, I will attempt to convice and eventually prove that the Orchard Road facelift was not really worth it, because many businessman are doubting its results and that the Singapore public has not been aware of the recent improvements to Orchard road.



However, there is conclusive evidence that significant improvements have been made to Orchard Road. The Singapore Tourism Board has released statements detailing the upgrade to orchard Road. STB's renovation includes: introducing new street lamps, co-ordinating the street furniture, adding decorative glass panels and potted flower totems. These are indisputible facts which state that STB did make improvements to Orchard Road. When interviewed, the director for shopping and dining said of the works as " ...covers the cost of the works which included starte-of-the-art lighting, power upgrading,landscaping,repaving ,works and consultation. "This again tells us that significant improvements were made to the infrastructure of Orchard Road. This improvements were made to beautify the surroundings and improve the standard of living in Singapore, and as Orchard Road is the main shopping area of Singapore, this attractiveness of the surroundings might give Singapore an edge in influencing the future tourists to choose Singapore as their new holiday destination.

Just because something was done and was expensive, does not at all costs mean that it was useful and worth it. This suits the Orchard Road upgrading very well, as even though $40m was spent to improve the state or Orchard road does not make it money well and wisely spent. When you hear that $40m was spent to upgrade one stretch of road, you would logically be expecting to be wowed when you step on to that road. However, this was not the case with the Orchard Road renovation. Even the local Singaporeans failed to notice the improvements before their very eyes. Clearly, if the government was attempting to entice other tourists and people to shop and experience Singapore and when tourists hear about the $40m spent, they will have sky-scraping expectations. From the looks and responses of the locals, this does not seem possible. Thus, I can say that the renovation was not worth $40m, as something that costs that much should be expected to amaze and enthrall an audience. Hence, the money spent on the upgrading was not worth it.

Moreover, the upgrading was also not useful. Some people argue that a few of the upgrades made have done more harm than good, while others say that it could have been put to better use. People who argue that harm was a product of the renovation refer to the narrowing of Paterson road.In order to accomodate more space for passing pedestrians, Paterson road has been narrowed by a lane. This perpetuates the already present bottleneck of human and vehicle traffic along this road every evening. The narrowing only makes it harder enter the area. Compounding this, because the details, have not been released to some mall owners, they argue that not knowiing the details might have adverse effects on their business and revenue. Due to this, the government must realise or take into account that their upgrading could jeopardize its Singapore's reputation as a premier tourist destination and to attract more Singaporeans to shop at Orchard.

Hence, I can say that due to the fact that the money was not worth it and not well spent, I have not other choice but to conclude that the $40m rejuvination of Orchard Road was not worth it.