Day 5 Reflections – Niklaus Teo

  I learnt that Countries that help with developing infrastructure gains not just in terms of financially, but also in terms of relationship. For example vietnam government tap on Singapore's expertise on town planning and architectural knowledge. They use Singapore’s knowledge to make VSIP 1,2, expansion, bac ninih and more. It is not only the vsip that is being built. Singapore do plan the surroundings around these vsip to develop the whole infrastructure in parts of vietnam and around the vsip to aid the productivity of the vsip. For example the roads around and in the vsip are big, smooth and are well marked, similar to roads of singapore. They also make the surroundings have greenery and even plan the drainage system. All of these are planned to aid the effectiveness in the industries to make it a competitive industries for companies to move to to produce their products. This shows the approach to planning must be as a whole with every consideration taken place. You cannot develop a product or system without considering every single aspect.  

  The second thing I learnt is that we must have the appropriate thinking when facing different situations. This is due to the fact that the initial mindset that you bring to decide on every situation will definitely affect the decision that you are going to make. In order for you to be a competitive in the real world and decide, for example whether to take up this business opportunity, you have to be able to take risks sometimes in order to gain. This type of entrepreneur  mindset can benefit the society in having rapid urbanization or developing new products or services for this Society. 

  Another thing I learnt was  the vsip 2 is a very good example of town planning for an industrial park. In vsip 2 they have a 1000 hectare of industrial zone that compromises of 300 hectare or industrial area(vsip 2) and 700 hectare of township. The town includes many amenities such as eastern international university, culture center, financial center and more. They will also make use of public transport to connect Ho Chi Min city from Binh Duong. The roads are also 33 metre in width to prevent traffic jams, thus making the personal transportation around town faster and also lesser air pollution due to the more efficient traffic flow. There are also schools ranging from primary schools all the way to universities so that the people living around the area are able to gain the necessary education in order to have skills to work for specific industries. This not only make it more appealing for other companies as there are a pool of labour to work in this companies. Looking back at the whole development of VSIP 2, it actually takes in consideration of all aspects of the city planning. I think overall singapore has made a very good decision to help vietnam with the urban planning as it can be a win win situation for both countries. Vietnam government will gain through the increase of job opportunities and the attraction of other companies.