Daily Lessons from Life 28-29 June 2012 - Official opening of Gardens by the Bay

"Official opening of Gardens by the Bay - CNA 29 June 2012

SINGAPORE - Gardens by the Bay officially opens to the public on Friday, marking the latest milestone of Singapore's vision in becoming a "City in a Garden".


The Gardens was officially launched by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong on Thursday evening, who together with 700 invited guests, enjoyed a special preview tour of Bay South Garden.

The Prime Minister called Gardens by the Bay "an icon" of the redeveloped Marina Bay, adding that it is the latest manifestation of Singapore's Garden City vision.

The first part of the government-funded development that is ready is Bay South Garden, which alone costs $1 billion. Other sections of the park will open in phases.

At 54 ha, its highlights include the Supertrees, the Flower Dome and Cloud forest conservatories, the Heritage Gardens and World of Plants; the Dragonfly Lake.

But he was candid about the difficult decision the government had to make in allocating prime land for this purpose.

"Setting aside so much prime land in the heart of the new downtown for Gardens by the Bay was not an easy decision. It could have used it for far more valuable commercial and residential developments," PM Lee said.

"But our planners in Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) believed that a large and beautiful park was an important element of our new downtown in Marina Bay South, just like Central Park in New York, or Hyde Park in London."
PM Lee encouraged all Singaporeans to visit the Gardens, adding that it is the "people's garden" for everyone - residents or visitors - to enjoy. He said it is a great place for Singaporeans to relax after work or bring the family there on weekends to enjoy a concert or a meal."

Indeed it was NOT an easy decision to make to invest more than S$1B on a park on land which can be very valuable for commerical and residential development purposes.

Lessons for me are:

1. another bet that the Gardens by the Bay will return its invested sum by many folds pulling in tourists and promote tourism that Singapore's economy is morping into;

2. the need to be compatible to other WORLD GLOBAL cities, though Singaporea is a NATION, like London, New York and Paris, added by me!;

3. learned that the entrance to some parts of this Gardens by the Bay is NOT free. Well. This is Singaporea after all. A commercial and economical miracle built not on charity alone! Next thing to explore is the sustainable energy concept and the technologies that the enclosure supposedly deployed should be interesting to learn.

Another new leaf in the economic development of Singapore. Only time will tell if this bet pays off and if the Singaporeans truly enjoy it...