When we cycled recently along the Geylang River and the Pelton Canal, we observed that some of the old industrial estates were becoming encircled by residential buildings. The city seems to be encroaching onto these old industrial estates and may perhaps in the future drive out the light industry that is still there.

Indeed, we discussed whether it would be better to get rid of these industrial estates and move the factories and warehouses to more remote areas, such as Jurong or Tuas, and replace them with condominiums and Housing Board estates. Or perhaps Singapore should reduce its reliance on manufacturing completely and become a service economy.