Singapore 2006 - Pre-meetings Events

Pre-meetings Events

Road closures in the vicinity of the event venues came into effect on the night of 10 September 2006, with police presence increased substantially within SICEC and in adjoining hotels. There was a notable drop in traffic volume around the area even during the morning peak hours, and traffic remained relatively smooth. Meeting delegates commenced officially at City Hall on 11 September 2006, 0800 hours (SST). There was a lack of taxis in Marina Centre, and booking a taxi was slow, and long queues at taxi stands were seen. The road diversion has caused Marina Mandarin Singapore to get its porters to flag taxis from the main road. Taxi companies reported no increase in taxi bookings in the area. However, at Singapore Changi Airport cabbies had complained the wait of the delegates have been long. Taxi operator Comfort says it is aware of the situation and will work with the organisers of the event and nearby hotels on the call bookings. They added they will increase the number of taxis in the Marina Centre area.

It has been reported that some technical and maintenance crew at SICEC has been barred entry to their workplace for months. The reason was due to they have not received their passes from the organisers. An anonymous worker told the press that their passes had several problems on it. They were issued temporary passes earlier in September, but they have since expired. They were not let in without proper credentials. The workers who do not have passes have been given a day off from work, whereas the rest who had passes worked double to get ready for the meetings. An industry source stated that about 200 to 300 workers faced the same problem with their passes. The managing director from Showtec Corporation told the press around twenty of his crew were sent home as no pass have been issued to them, despite most of them submitted their forms a few months ago. A full strength of sixty is required to run the meetings. He added that a number of the passes did not come with an “S” at the bottom left hand corner of the card, which is a security feature for the person to be allowed into the Programme of Seminars which brings all the ministers and high-level delegates from 184 countries.

It has been reported shops at Suntec City Mall which is inside the convention centre have seen a drop in business from 30% to 70%, this came after the area was secured on Sunday night. Several restaurants saw no crowd at the restaurants, this also affected nearby Marina Square. Suntec City has also given promotions to its shoppers to attract shoppers, and special privileges have been given to the delegates for the meetings.