A crying shame....but a salient reminder

Reliable sources tell me the Hellenic Republic is soon to establish an Embassy in Singapore itself rather than be accredited through Thailand. Long overdue and it cannot come fast enough. It is a diplomatic truism that cultural, political and business exchanges have mutual benefits but in the case of Greece, it has more to learn from Singapore at this important juncture. Nothing highlights the points more saliently than the fact that the old Athens Airport site has essentially remained abandoned since 2001. Time after time, we hear of grand plans but no action. About the same time (2003) , Singapore conceptualised Gardens by the Bay build on reclaimed land. In January 2006, an international competition was launched, a process which was completed by December of that year. Ground was broken in January 2007 and by 2012, three glorious public parks with a total land area of 1, 010, 000 sq.m were opened to the public, an investment of over $1b. The gardens energy needs are powered by a bio-mass boiler which utilises horticultural and organic waste. More recently, the area (remember it was reclaimed land) had an underground highway built under it & now the metro is being extended there as well. Why is the old airport, which should be the lungs of Athens, allowed to languish when so much could have been achieved with proper processes?

Long term planning, execution, passion for delivery, meritocracy, corporate governance are all concepts Greece should focus on absorbing from a more intensive relationship with Singapore. It is hard to think of any country which has achieved so much in only 51 years of independence. Only with these building blocs can Greece hope to overcome the crisis in which it finds itself in. There are no easy fixes but we can learn much from Singapore, which like Greece, has tremendous human talent.