SINGAPORE - Observers had mixed reviews for outgoing SMRT CEO Desmond Kuek, even as they were hopeful that his expected successor - former chief of defence force Neo Kian Hong - can hit the ground running.

Member of Parliament Cedric Foo, a former chair of the Government Parliamentary Committee (GPC) for Transport, said: "I've worked with both men, and both are excellent, very focused in their tasks, and both are engineers.