SINGAPORE, June 4 ― Malaysia can derive significant economic benefit if it upgrades its transportation network to global standard practice says London-based Credo Business Consulting LLP.
Credo Managing Partner Chris Molloy said transport was considered one of the major factors of a city’s competitiveness and often cited as among top challenges by urban decision makers.
“Around the world public transport systems are ageing, underdeveloped or unable to cope with demands of growing mobile population,” he told reporters covering the biennial World Cities Summit 2014, Singapore International Water Week and CleanEnviro Summit.
Siemens Malaysia Sdn Bhd, which organised the journalists' trip, had commissioned Credo to study transportation networks in 35 major cities around the globe and assess their preparedness in meeting future challenges including population growth and higher competition.
A report on “The Mobility Opportunity ― Improving Public Transport To Drive Economic Growth” was launched here.
Mulloy said drawing on the experience of other similar cities, coping with rising population and shifting demographics were likely to present a significant long-term capacity challenge that demanded a clear strategic plan to solve.
However, he said the study revealed that cities around the world have encountered these challenges successfully and if Malaysia adopted global best practice, its economy was set to grow further and meet the demand of its capital inhabitants in the next 20 years.
For comparison, Credo had grouped the cities into three different categories to account for different levels of wealth and development namely well-established cities, high-density compact centers and emerging cities.
The study revealed that Copenhagen in Denmark emerged the best performing city overall driven by the strength of its plan and network capacity.
Singapore leads in high-density compact centers category due to its strong governance and high capacity while Santiago, Chile, in the emerging cities category was picked as it had expanded and modernised its ageing network, he added.
“All cities can learn from the leading cities in their category in order to close the gap of their transport networks efficiency, reduce cost and increase productivity because the more efficient a city’s network is, the more attractive it is to business and people,” said Mulloy.
Meanwhile, Siemens AG Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Siemens Infrastructure and Cities Sector, Roland Busch told Bernama Malaysia was considered as an upper half country in the world which has its transportation systems in place.
“Malaysia has already invested heavily in public transport systems with light rail transit, monorail and commuter transforming the ease of getting around in the cities.
“With the executed plans and more in the pipeline especially the fast train linking the country with Singapore, tremendous push to its economy will come,” he added. ― Bernama
