Big Wheel keep on turning ?No

HE was looking forward to spending time with his family on Christmas.

But Mr Florian Bollen, 43, had to cancel his holiday plans when the Singapore Flyer broke down.

It left 173 people stranded on board for nearly seven hours.

Mr Bollen, who is chairman of Singapore Flyer, found out about the breakdown via SMS on Christmas Eve.

He was in Nuremberg, Germany, and was about to go with his family to Austria to ski.

But when he got the news about the Flyer, he left his two teenage children and wife behind and flew to Singapore.

He said: 'I was looking forward to spending time with my family, but had to cancel our plans.

'I was upset such an incident should happen. I was on the phone all night and gave instructions that all the passengers on the capsules must be brought down safely.'

An electrical outage had caused the wheel to stop.

The incident was the fourth stoppage since the wheel started operations last February.

Mr Bollen arrived on Christmas Day and immediately met with the wheel contractors, Singapore Flyer senior staff and one international expert who flew in with him.

Several international experts later flew in, and a committee was formed to investigate the cause of the stoppage and make sure it would not happen again.

While Singaporeans and tourists spent yesterday and today in merrymaking and revelry, Mr Bollen told The New Paper that he would be working with experts, contractors and management to get the wheel turning again as soon as possible.

In a media statement two days ago, he said the committee was making sure that more stringent systems were in place to keep the wheel rotating.

This included additional back-up mechanisms to keep the wheel turning at all times, in addition to the stand-by generator currently in place.

When asked yesterday when the wheel would be up and running again, he said an update would be released on 9 Jan.

'We are making very good progress in this aspect. We are working 24 hours a day with no day off on New Year's Day,' said Mr Bollen.

The chairman of the Singapore Flyer, who is a Singapore permanent resident, said he wanted the public to know that there was more to the Flyer than the wheel.

Other attractions

While the wheel was the main attraction, he said that Singapore Flyer had many other attractions which would continue operating.

Like the many pubs and restaurants nearby, which had suffered loss of business during and after the stoppage.

Mr Bollen felt the stoppage was a chance for the pubs, restaurants and stores around the wheel to 'stand up and be lifted up' in the minds of visitors.

He added: 'The Flyer is not just the wheel but is also a destination where people can eat and drink and enjoy themselves.

'We will work with the tenants to bring that message across through more promotions and tie-ins.'