Singapore Looks into the Future

choi

Yesterday was Monday, Apr 25. Wall Street Journal had a section (D) whose theme was "The Future of Cities."  

The lead report is:

Michael Totty, 5 Innovative Cities to Watch; In an era of urbanization around the globe, here are the places leading the way in redefining what cities can be. Wall Street Journal, Apr 25, 2016
http://www.wsj.com/articles/five ... novation-1461549789

(a) Read only the first city to watch: Singapore.

(b) Quote:

"Take traffic. * * * Going forward, the city wants to require all vehicles to have a satellite-linked device that can calculate exact driving distances and make it possible to adjust tolls depending on traffic and the time of day.

"Then there is water. * * * Two desalination plants can produce about 100 million gallons a day from seawater, about a quarter of the city's needs. Singapore also looks to the sky: About two-thirds of the land surface funnels rainwater to be treated for drinking, and high-rises use it for flushing toilets. * * * Singapore also has one of the world's most ambitious wastewater-reuse systems. Four water plants using advanced-membrane filters and ultraviolet light as a disinfectant produce water that Singapore’s public-water authority says is clean enough to drink. However, the recycled water is mainly used for air-conditioning and for industry, including semiconductor plants that require water even purer than drinking water.

(c) About the second quotation. The section has another report that elaborates on the cryptic statement "calculate exact driving distances."

Jake Maxwell Watts and Newley Purnell, How Singapore Is Reimagining the 'Smart City;' Government-deployed sensors will collect and coordinate data in an unprecedented level.
http://www.wsj.com/articles/sing ... ew-level-1461550026

, whose print version -- but not the online version -- has a panel (heading: Smart Nation) of three innovations, one of which says:

"Vehicle tracking[:] A new toll-road system will use satellite and mobile-phone networks to charge users for the exact distance driven on roads in Singapore, factoring in conditions such as road congestion and the type of vehicle.

My comment:
(a) Reading this, I wonder whether in the near future, Singaporeans will have to pay every yard of road they drive.
(b) There is no need to read the rest of this (second) report.