Infrastructure - Blog Posts

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For the last 500 years, the locals of Nongriat in Meghalaya, India have grown several hundred bridges across the region’s numerous water channels, using just the roots of local ribber trees. Some of the bridges extend over 100 feet in length and are strong enough to support more than 50 people at a time. 

This is beautiful; I hope to one day see this. Traveling to India has been on my list of places to go since I was a child anyways.

My thoughts on the summer budget

I read the full Budget speech that George Osborne gave today.

I think that from a public relations point of view it has been a good budget for the Chancellor.  I found myself thinking, "I agree with that" when watching the news and hearing the headlines.

Now that I have read the budget I am less pleased.

I am disappointed in his Infrastructure plans to increase productivity.  

He said -

“Four fifths of all journeys in this country are by road, yet we rank behind Puerto Rico and Namibia in the quality of our network. In the last 25 years, France has built more than two and a half thousand miles of motorway – and we’ve built just 300. In the last Parliament I increased road spending, even in difficult times, and set out a plan for £15bn of new roads for the rest of this decade.”

I was disappointed in this because it makes no mention of public transport, it makes no mention of improving streets and paths to allow and encourage people to walk and cycle.  Roads and streets are important and are a good place for investment, but I am concerned that the Governments plans will see more roads built, which will then fill up with cars and lorries, leading to no net improvement in productivity or happieness.

At one point in his speech he said -

For Britain is home to 1% of the world’s population; generates 4% of the world’s income; and yet pays out 7% of the world’s welfare spending.  

What a meaningless statement!!! It may be factually correct but it is not illuminating.  We should really be proud that we spend 7% of the world's welfare spending because there are lots of places that spend zero.  

I was disappointed that the budget didn't set out any proposals to increase the affordability of housing or energy by increasing supply.  This is the other side of the tax cut coin, making peoples money go further.

A search through the budget statement shows that equality or inequality was only mentioned once.  He stated that - "In the last fortnight we’ve seen independent statistics showing that since 2010, child poverty is down and so is inequality."  I do not see this as a strong budget to reduce inequality.

I was pleased to see that non-dom status is to be phased out.

I see that corporation tax will be reduced to 18% by 2020.  I would have liked to see that a reduced tax rate associated with less unequal pay structure within corporations. Rather than just taxing high earners companies should pay more tax if they have highly unequal wage structures.  One way to assess wage structues within a company would be through the use of the Gini Coefficient.

I understand that there is going to be further tightening of the rules concerning taxation to close loopholes and I support this.

I find that the discussion of tax credit and minimum wage confusing.  I see that Ian Duncan Smith was cheering the increase in the minimum wage and I am prepared to trust his judgement.

In conclusion, I see this as a budget that was well crafted from the political point of view for middle England.  I think the Budget will not play so well in Scotland.  I am disappointed because I do not see this budget as making Britain a happier place to live.  The Chancellor and the Government don't seem to want to promote more equality, or if they do, they are limiting themselves to only a few tools.  The Budget will not improve affordability which is the other side of the tax coin when it comes to improving peoples lives.  

I hope you find these views interesting.

If you want to read the full budget statement for yourself the reference is:

Osborne, G. and HM Treasury, (2015). Chancellor George Osborne's Summer Budget 2015 speech - Speeches - GOV.UK. [online] Gov.uk. Available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/chancellor-george-osbornes-summer-budget-2015-speech [Accessed 8 Jul. 2015].

#Zürich views from the #primetower 🇨🇭 #zurich #switzerland #switzerlandpictures #europe #herbst #travel #explore #cityvibes #infrastructure #engineer #themodernengineer #menwithurban @menwithurban (at Canton of Zürich)

A beautiful start to Monday morning here in Bali @finnsbeachclub #themodernengineer #civilengineer #structuralengineer #lifestyle #travel #infrastructure #bali #indonesia #balibagus #tgim (at Finns Beach Club)

Є ще одна тема в житті, яка мене цікавить, і про яку завжди хотілося писати більше - міська інфраструктура, в першу чергу все що пов'язане з громадським транспортом та доріжками для велосипедистів.

Мені пощастило зараз жити в місті, де, хоч і далеко не ідеально все зроблено (ні в яких світових рейтингах його нема, але в регіональних займає далеко не останні місця), проте є чому повчитися українцям, а особливо, чернівчанам.

Дуже вдалим насправді є порівняння Генту та Чернівців. Це міста з невеликим і більш-менш однаковим населенням, певного значення регіональні центри (Гент - друге найбільше місто у Фландрії, Чернівці - друге найбільше в Західній Україні), які все ж перебувають в тіні значно більш впливових регіональних центрів (Антверпен-Львів).

Гент, так само як і Чернівці - університетське місто, тут знаходиться великий виш і, в значній мірі, життя міста орієнтовано навколо того. Як і в Чернівцях дуже чітко видно по вулицях, чи є навчання, чи нема, чи є сесія, чи щойно закінчилася. 

Гент є певною архітектурною перлиною регіону, проте не дуже розкрученою (всі знають про красу Брюге, але ніхто не чув про Гент), так і в Чернівцях, лише останніми роками почали з'являтися натовпи туристів.

Так от це невеликий вступ, в подальших постах я буду намагатися показувати вдалі, на мою думку, приклади організації міського простору в Генті, які, насправді, не потребують колосальних капіталовкладень, але ефект від них неймовірний - збільшення швидкості руху громадського транспорту, комфорт городян, безперка велосипедистів і, найголовніше, збереження життя людей, як пішоходів так і інших учасників дорожнього руху.

it's perfect

yoru