Waste, crowd and pollution management

7.3 Site Management Strategies

The Marina Barrage has many site management strategic plans in place, which include but are not limited to waste, crowd and pollution management. As Marina Barrage is an environmentally sustainable place, the management seeks to maintain its pristine image of sustainability.

7.3.1 Waste Management

Waste management generally involves the collection, removal, processing, and disposal of materials considered as waste, which can be solid, gaseous, liquid, or even hazardous and are generally generated through human activity (Ekvall et. al., 2007). Proper waste management is important as it can cause many health, safety and even economic issues if not managed well (Giusti, 2009). Improper waste management is crucial to Marina Barrage as its image rides on its greenery. Its waste management policies ensure that the Marina Barrage is kept litter free as much as possible. This is done through the placement of litterbins strategically throughout the Marina Barrage. However, through observation, the team recommends that the number of litterbins should be increased to accommodate the large crowd numbers on the weekends. On weekends where the crowd numbers are significantly higher than on weekdays, rubbish bins tend to overflow due to the unavailability of sufficient bins along high volume areas such as the green roof. This would ensure that waste pollution is kept to a minimum and that its image as a sustainable and green destination is maintained (Kumar, 2014).

7.3.2 Crowd Management

Crowd management must take into account all the elements of an event especially the type of event (circus, sporting, theatrical, concert, rally, parade, etc.), characteristics of the facility, size and demeanour of the crowd, methods of entrance, communications, crowd control, and queueing. As in all management, it must include planning, organizing, staffing, directing and evaluating. Particularly critical to crowd management is defining the roles of parties involved in an event, the quality of the advance intelligence, and the effectiveness of the planning process (Tubbs & Meacham, 2007). For Marina Barrage, crowd management is vital as it provides a safe and organized setting for visitors. The Marina Barrage has excellent existing crowd management measures in place. The Marina Barrage would hardly be classified as an overcrowded destination on a day-to-day basis with the exception of days with events or festivals. Even so, event and festival organisers are monitored to ensure that the crowd management does not go out of hand (PUB Occupation License, 2015). The team recommends that these measures should be maintained and perhaps upgraded through crowd management software with crowd forecast plans implemented. This ensures that crowd numbers are monitored well and overcrowding is prevented.

7.3.3 Safety Guidelines

Safety Guidelines are regulations or rules that are put in place to ensure a product, event, etc., is safe and not dangerous (Vimlati et. Al., 2009). The Marina Barrage has many safety guidelines in place and most of which places public safety and wellbeing as its number one priority. Its safety guidelines include code of conducts for water activities, safety permits for both events and boat hoisting (Code of Conduct, 2015). Such practices help to prevent any safety infringements from happening and in turn could hurt visitors to the Marina Barrage. Safety and security are vital to provide a high quality tourism policy. In fact, the success or failure of a tourism destination depends largely on its capacity to provide visitors with a safe and secure environment (Tubbs & Meacham, 2007). Besides physical safety aspects, the team recommends that the Marina Barrage should continue to ensure the social security of the destination. This should be relatively easy as Singapore is classified as one of the top five safe cities in the world (Bertrand, 2015). It will help build Marina Barrage and Singapore’s image as safe destinations to visit. Health safety aspects are also recommended to be looked at by the management. The annual haze Singapore faces could be a point to start from. In 2013, PSI levels reached dangerous levels of above 400 (Vaswani, 2013). The marina barrage could ensure public health and safety through measures such as advising the public to remain within the indoor sections such as the sustainable gallery. This could have a dual effect of ensuring public safety and public awareness of the gallery’s existence.

7.3.4 Accessibility and Infrastructure

Public accessibility heavily influences tourists’ willingness to visit a tourism destination (Schofield et.al, 2010). Public accessibility via public transport such as MRT and bus services are available. However, due to the location of Marina Barrage, these services remain rather limited. For example the nearest MRT Station as of March 2015 is Bayfront MRT which is a 20 mins walk away and there is only one bus service ferrying visitors to the Marina Barrage. However, private vehicle access is truly excellent. The team recommends that upon completion of the Gardens by the Bay station along the Thomson-East Coast Line, sheltered walkways should be built between the MRT station and the Marina Barrage. Sheltered walkways should also be constructed between the existing bus stop located outside the Marina Barrage and the barrage itself along with bicycle rental kiosks to reduce the carbon footprint around the vicinity. Shuttle buses could also be implemented between nearby hotels around the Marina area such as Marina Bay Sands & Marina Mandarin to attract higher tourist numbers and raise the awareness of such an tourism destination. More public bus services can be proposed to the relevant government authorities or at the very least increase the frequency of the current service to cater to the needs of the public. This would help the Marina Barrage in its accessibility issues over the long run. Where visitor infrastructure within Marina Barrage is concerned, the overall review remains excellent. Detailed considerations have gone into the planning of the infrastructure of the place. The marina barrage is significantly wheelchair friendly though improvements can be made to make the sustainably gallery a little more wheelchair accessible as accessibility is a human right and basic need of people and should be a fundamental consideration during planning of urban destinations (Evcil, 2009). The team recommends to further enhance the Marina Barrage to make is completely barrier free to wheelchair bound visitors to enhance visitor experience and satisfaction.

7.3.5 Environmental Protection

Environmental protectionis a practice of protectingthe naturalenvironmenton individual, organizational or governmental levels, for the benefit of both the natural environmentand humans (Heink & Kowarik, 2010). As the marina barrage is touted as one of the greenest destinations in Singapore, its need for environmental sustainability and protection is high. Environmental protection is of outmost importance as it involves the protection of the natural environment on various governmental levels right up to individuals and can results in benefits for both people and the environment (Gonzalez, 2014). Green principles were thought through thoroughly during construction and operation of the barrage. Thus, the marina barrage reduces its electricity consumption and waste pollution significantly. The team recommends that the Marina Barrage apply more energy conservation measures to enhance its image as a sustainable green destination. This can be done by increasing its aircon temperature to 25 degrees Celsius, adding more solar panels to its roof and perhaps and inclusion of an electricity generating water turbine in its outlet pumps. The additional solar panels can not only help to power the Marina Barrage but could be transported to the Marina Vicinity. This would reduce carbon footprint as well as greenhouse gas emissions in Singapore and increase its self-sustainability to run on green and clean energy generated through its day to day operations (Schulz, 2010).