Gopinath Menon
IHFS EXCELLENCE AWARD FOR PROFESSIONAL SERVICES (ENGINEERING)
Gopinath Menon (Gopi) landed in Singapore seventy years ago with his family from Kerala, India. One of his heroes was Sri Rama from Ramayana who among other noble actions, built a long bridge from India to Lanka. So, when Gopi received a Meccano set (equivalent of today’s Lego) as a birthday present, what else than to revel in making models of bridges – a modest introduction to engineering!
After studying at Bartley Secondary School and Victoria School, he earned a Civil Engineering degree from the University of Malaya and later a Transportation Engineering Master’s degree under a Colombo Plan Fellowship from the University of New South Wales.
Jobs were scarce just after independence. He was lucky to land a government job as a pupil engineer, progressing steadily to become the Chief Transportation Engineer, all the while striving to improve traffic management and safety on the roads. He was the Project Director of the world’s first-ever Electronic Road Pricing system implemented in 1998. Gopi’s stint in the civil service gave him the opportunity be a bridge builder. He spent two years supervising the construction of a bridge over a road, the Paya Lebar flyover (1982). He was awarded the Public Administration Medal (Silver) in 1989.
His collaboration with the universities resulted in a concurrent Adjunct Associate Professor appointment at the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Nanyang Technological University (1991-2015). As an academic, Gopi had to write technical papers, which among others culminated in two books titled “Mitigating Congestion—Singapore’s Road Pricing Journey”, and a primer on the history of “Transport.”
After retiring from government service in 2003, Gopi served on the Public Transport Council Board (2005 to 2019) and the Singapore Road Safety Council (2009-2015)
He also assumed a new role of providing transport engineering consultancy as a freelancer in China, India, Indonesia, Mauritius, the Fiji Islands, Sri Lanka, Colombia, Qatar, Maldives, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia and Oman, all places where the “Singapore transport” brand was held in high regard.
Besides maintaining connection with the local engineering fraternity through the Institution of Engineers, Gopi collaborated with other road authorities beyond Singapore’s borders. The Road Engineering Association of Asia and Australasia conferred on him the select Honorary Membership in 2013.
As a firm believer that he must contribute to the society, a trait he picked up from his father, Gopi has been a volunteer in social service bodies for the past 40 years, with SHINE Children and Youth Services and with the Ramakrishna Mission. He was humbled when recognition came in the way of the award of PBM (2010) and BBM (2014) by the President.
Gopi attributes much of the success of his life and career to the steadfast support of his wife Nandini and his children, Arjun, Prema and Maya.
Gopi keeps himself busy, healthy, and alert by taking on consultancy projects, volunteering, active walking, playing tennis, practicing origami paper folding, and playing the piano.