5/21/2015

SEA Games budget $324.5m


This is the budget for the SEA Games and the organizers promised they would not exceed the budget this time. The last YOG was budgeted at $104m but finally cost more than $300m. Was the over spending due to inexperience or bad budgeting or just uncontrolled overspending? Anyway it is history. It must be good value for money spent.
 

With that experience, the current budget of $324.5m is just about there, about right. Not sure how is this computed, based on number of athletes or what? This SEA Games is for adults and they may need more in terms of food alone. Hope it is really enough and no more overspending.
 

With Leong Sze Hian somewhere in the mountain retreat, let me try to crunch some numbers here to see what it means. With 7000 athletes and officials, it would mean the Games will cost $46,300 per participants for the duration of 12 days. Or for each day, it will cost about $4,000 to host a participant. Cheap, quite cheap really.
 

If each participant were to spend $1,000 a day, the net loss will be $3,000 daily per participant. The break even should be for each participant to spend $4,000 daily during the Games duration. Of course the money is well spent for the publicity and goodwill generated. Now more people will know where is Singapore and how good Singapore is. They may migrate here to help us and to help us hit the 6.9m population target faster.
 

The overall picture is definitely money well spent. Oh, the participants need not have to choose whether to eat at the hawker centres, foodcourts or restaurants. The food quality is restaurant standard for sure. We have to play the good host and show them the hospitality of a first world country and standard. They will all return home with good memories of Singapore, the paradise on earth and would return, and return as tourists or future workers. Maybe they are our future PRs and citizens. This is called planning ahead and planting the seeds for the future. Oh, some may want to represent us and don our national colours, become our sporting citizens to bring glory to us.

13 comments:

Ⓜatilah $ingapura⚠️ said...

@ RB:

>> Now more people will know where is Singapore and how good Singapore is. <<

Yah lah. when you have a "premium brand' you must pump it up.

Consider the "opposite" scenario. If Singapore spent a small amount of money, that would surely cause Singapore to "lose face" amongst the jealous neighbours and Singapore-bashers.

So here again the govt has NO CHOICE but to spend up big and make sure everyone knows about it, and is talking about it. There's a variety of opinion too...which is great to keep the arguments and the conversation going! Well played, govt of sg, well played!

>> They may migrate here to help us and to help us hit the 6.9m population target faster. <<

That is a very positive hope to the people in the same camp as I am which are looking at 9 million or more, hopefully in our lifetimes so we can also enjoy the "intense human energy" of a modern, prosperous, bustling metropolis.

Naysayers will always talk down the govt spending money like this. What to do with such lousy, small-minded attitudes?

Please lah stingy fuckers, the govt already got the money from you...it is SUNK cost as far as you are concerned. So, might as well spend it on making AWESOME events.

For years people used to complain "Singapore is boring". Now Singapore is no longer "boring", but yet, you still get people complaining.

Aiya, cannot please everyone lah!

Anonymous said...

Today, anyone that does not know what Singapore is is unlikely to be one that we need. Why would we want people living in the jungles and villages with no TV or internet and did not know there is a paradise called Singapore?

Virgo49 said...

Let them revise the figure��

Another nail to the coffin of the PAP coming GE

Anonymous said...


Come! Come! Come To SINGAPORE!

新加坡是天堂! 新加坡是天堂!

第一世界的新加坡是天堂!

如果第一世界新加坡不是天堂 哪里是天堂?

So......... the budget of $324.5m is really "wet-wet-water"!

Hahaha............

patriot said...

It is badly under budgetted.

The Last SEA Game in Sin was many years back and costs then was much lower than current standard.

500 million Sin Dollars would be a more realistic figure.

We have to create the Best Impression to show thw World that Sin is no fluke for being Number One in many things. Making the Best SEA Games Host is also very important. It is not a question of 'face value', it is dignity for ourselves and our guests.
There must not be shoddy services nor sloppy planning.

patriot

Anonymous said...

Tiok, must spend, whether $300M or even $500M, if at the same time can also boost foreign sporting talents to take up PR or minted as new Sinkies. It is worth every cent.

And to hell with those local, real Sinkies who kpkb. Besides kpkb, what else can they do?

Anonymous said...

SEA Games are games played in the sea. so, why need a stadium. Just go Changi Beach, East Coast Beach or West Coast Beach play can already.

Why have to spend so much taxpayers' money.

Youth O-lum-pic cost 300 over million dollars. This one also costs 300 over million dollars. How come like that?

Got under-over-table-tennis money or not? Got Mr Hanky and and Miss Panky playing in the games or not?

Money so easy to make meh?

b said...

Almost all international sports events are just scams for the rich elite class to channel public monies into private companies controlled by them.

Anonymous said...

Fuck lah, $324M will only make Singapore look like Phnom Penh standard. The peenoys & the indoes will be laughing at us. If only we're the 27th province of China --- Beijing will spend at least $1 Trillion to spruce up this dinky island. $1 trillion is chicken feet to them. Their foreign reserves already $100 trillion.

Anonymous said...

Ya lor. Want to show off, follow the Chinese. S$324 million is too small a sum to make any kind of earth shaking statement. Nowadays everything is in the billions, like hell money.

Anonymous said...

SEA Games
- more free money for aliens by the Pro Alien government ???

Virgo49 said...

Athletes eat steak, oysters, sushi and five star hotel food

Volunteer sinkies eat swills, left over food

SEA games equivalent to kampong games

Where got standard???

Try just Asian Games, badly trounced

Kaffein said...

Whose money was used to fund these events? I'm sure every athletic and official will go home with a goodie-bag (with perhaps a gold coin/bar).

And they will tell everyone in their hometown to come to live in SG.

Singaporeans, you are screwed twice over - hosting the event with inconveniences eg road closures, and funding them to have restaurant meals. So fun, where got boring?

Kaffein