Orchard Road Facelift

Depsite the much hype about the major facelift of Orchard Road for the past few months, many people were dissapointed when the $40-million makeover of Orchard Road was unveiled to the public. New street lamps, co-ordinated street furniture, decorative glass panels and potted flower totems were some of the many changes in Orchard Road but many pedestrians have failed to notice them. Personally, I do not approve and felt that the major makeover of Orchard Road was not worth it mainly because of two reasons, the first being that the makeover did not reach its aim of beautifying Orchard Road but in fact brought about some undesirable results and the second reason is that the sum of money for the makeover of Orchard Road could be used for more important issues.

Orchard Road is the primary shopping belt of Singapore and the changes done to beautify it may give Orchard Road a new image and attract more tourists. However, the facelift did not meet the aim of beautifying Orchard Road and in fact may backfire. Firstly, not many pedestrians noticed the changes in Orchard Road. Out of a 100 people surveyed, 40 did not notice it the changes. Those who noticed the changes made comments that "there's not much change" and that there was no "big difference". One may then argue that if no one even notices the changes, what is the point of even beautifying Orchard Road. This shows that the impact of the facelift was not as great as it was supposed to be and that the aim of beautifying Orchard Road was not met since the changes did not make much difference. Secondly, the major facelift brought about even more trouble and negativity than it was suppose to beautify the shopping district. The noise pollution coming from the construction sites had put off many shoppers and that the pathways to shops were blocked. Both tourists and locals were annoyed by the construction process and this has ruined the once prim and proper image of Orchard Road. The facelift did not meet its aim of beautifying the shopping district and in fact caused even more negative results has definitely led to people thinking that the whole makeover process costing up to $40-million dollars may just be a waste of money.

This leads us to my next point that the money used to beautify Orchard Road should be used for much more important and meaningful issues. An area the money could be used for is the cleanliness and the maintenance of Orchard Road. Comments were made that the "pavement looks so dirty" and that of "clean up the walkaways". This is a much more feasible way in beautifying Orchard Road by making sure that it is clean, leaving a deeper and better impression on tourists visiting the shopping district.

In conclusion, I do not think the Orchard Road makeover was worth it because its aim of beautifying Orchard Road was not met, there were negative results and comments from the public and that the extravagant amount spent can be used on much more important issues.