Singapore Intelligent Transport System

Singapore Intelligent Transport System

Despite being one of the smallest countries in the world, Singapore has been at the forefront of trying to build a culture of propagating new forms of technology to solve its resource-scarce problems.  Take the example of land: a commodity where the country lacks in. But it has not faced any major traffic-related as its intelligent transport system (ITS) maximise road network efficiency capacity as well as monitor and manage traffic flow.

This path has clearly been established by the Smart Mobility 2030 Plan, a guideline to successfully implement ITS initiatives for a smarter future urban mobility. “Thanks to its Intelligent Transport System, Singapore is one of the

least congested major cities in the world despite a‑growing urban population and limited physical space. This integrated pay-as-you-use system maximizes the capacity of the road network with vehicle quotas, sophisticated electronic road pricing (ERP) tolls that vary according to traffic flows, and alerts to drivers, all controlled in real time from an operations center. Consequently, average car speeds of 27 km/hour compare favorably to 16 km/hour in London and 11‑km/hour in Tokyo.” (KPMG). This is considered to be a very clever system which allow the citizens to easily choose and change their mode of transport.

 The ITS World Conference is said to be held in Singapore this year; the forum is expected to hold major discussions on improving the status of ITS in Singapore (Image Credits: ITSSingapore.org)

Rail Baltica

Rail Baltica

There are a very few projects which are as effective in uniting a region’s economic concerns by  building a robust supporting infrastructure as a transit rail project which goes through the heart of the countries. One such project is Rail Baltica. Connecting five European countries- Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia and Finland, it spans over 870 km in length. More than €5 bn has been invested into the project.  

Considered to be the largest Baltic-region infrastructure project in the last 100 years, it is also one of the most environmentally friendly projects as it is fully electrified, ensuring no carbon emissions are produced. The entire network has been built with state-of-the-art and latest, modern technologies. “With trains travelling at up to 240 km/hour, a trip from Tallinn in Estonia to the Polish-Lithuanian border will take just four hours. Up to 85 percent support is needed from the EU, with the other 15 percent coming from the cash-strapped Baltic governments and the private sector in each country. The countries are forming a joint venture to move the project forward, with construction due to start in 2018 and finish by 2023” (KPMG).

(Image Credits: Ministry of Latvia)

Southern Seawater Desalination Plant

Southern Seawater Desalination Plant

“Asset management has also proven critical in Australia’s water sector. The country spent billions building six huge seawater desalination plants during a severe drought from 1997 to 2009. Today, four are shut down because the cost of the water became non-competitive when rain finally came. The judges noted that desalination is not cheap, but it may be essential for growing cities in unpredictable arid climates” (KPMG). 

One such important project which being undertaken in recent times is the Southern Seawater Desalination Plant. The plant is being set up 150 kilometres south of Perth. It was initially scheduled to open in September 2011 and was expected to deliver 50 giga litres of potable water. But now it has bee fully operational since January 2013 and delivers 100 giga litres of water. It supplies to entire Western Australia which has recorded some of the driest temperatures. One distinct feature of this project is that its energy requirements are met by a 10 MW solar farm and 55 MW wind farm.

(Image Credit: Water-technology.net)