I am pleased to read that SMRT will work with the Land Transport Authority to improve the redundancy of flood prevention measures (Flooding in MRT tunnel preventable, says Khaw; Oct 17).

To further facilitate preventive measures, I suggest that SMRT make a provision for redundancy and obsolescence in its balance sheet, say at 3 per cent of the total material costs.

Such an approach would help in identifying and replacing unusable, faulty equipment promptly.

In most organisations, some degree of redundancy and obsolescence is inevitable, owing to the equipment's prolonged exposure to corrosive environments and operations.

Keeping the equipment and its associated spares in good working order is a real challenge. Rarely can it be a one-man, one-discipline task.

What is needed is a multidisciplinary team drawn from engineering design, industry standards, plant maintenance, internal audit, and material management.

I hope SMRT can adopt this new work method and culture.

David Chong Chee Ming