Innovative solutions for a variety of needs
Good governance and an integrated approach to planning have enabled S'pore to become a First World Nation in just a few decades. MINT KANG reports
The Business Times, 5 Aug 2014
Good governance and an integrated approach to planning have enabled S'pore to become a First World Nation in just a few decades. MINT KANG reports
The Business Times, 5 Aug 2014
In just a few decades, Singapore has gone from a Third World nation to a city that does indeed provide its citizens with the opportunities to live, work and play well - that despite a population that has tripled since the 1970s and ongoing challenges of land and water scarcity.
Plan behind the First World nation
"Our transformation to a liveable and sustainable city has been brought about by two things: good governance and an integrated approach to planning," says Khoo Teng Chye, CLC's executive director. CLC was set up in 2008 to document that transformation and expand on the knowledge gained from the early years of development.
The planning behind Singapore's development has remained much the same over the years. Today, the Urban Redevelopment Authority's (URA) Master Plan, the statutory land use plan meant to guide Singapore's development over the next decade and a half, still follows the spirit of the first Concept Plan created in 1971: it balances Singapore's land use needs between the social and the economic, industry and the environment, housing and community, and it involves intensive collaboration between many government agencies. "(The Master Plan) is an important strategic platform for the coordination of the work of our development agencies to ensure that the necessary infrastructure will be provided to adequately support existing and new developments," URA chief planner and deputy CEO Lim Eng Hwee said in a June 2014 interview. He highlighted an increased number of green spaces, the protection of conservation areas and the expansion of public spaces as some key areas of the 2014 Master Plan, which can be viewed on URA's website.
Some of the agencies involved in developing and implementing the Master Plan are obvious, such as the Land Transport Authority, which is currently collaborating with the private sector to develop a solution for lessening traffic congestion. Others might seem to have less of a stake, yet their input is equally important: for example, the Singapore Tourism Board has since the mid-1980s worked closely with URA to develop ways of conserving ethnic and cultural enclaves that can double up as tourist attractions. The conservation areas designated as identity nodes in the 2014 Master Plan include Jalan Kayu, Holland Village and Serangoon Gardens.
Sustainability and quality of living
Sustainability and quality of living
Today, sustainability and quality of living are among the traits of Singapore, the "Garden City". It is an engineering ethos that dates all the way back to the 1970s and 1980s, when civil engineers working with the Housing and Development Board (HDB) built passive sustainability features into their designs. HDB flats were built to face slightly away from the west, so that units would not be exposed to the worst of the afternoon heat; concrete overhangs were added to shield windows from direct sunlight; and stairwells and corridors were built to accommodate plenty of ventilation. Today, those simple principles have been recognised and formalised in initiatives such as the Building and Construction Authority's (BCA) Green Mark scheme, which assesses and awards buildings for best practices in environmental design and performance. Major real estate developers such as City Developments Ltd - a long-time advocate of sustainable buildings and the first developer to be named a Green Mark champion - have enthusiastically supported Green Mark principles.
The Green Mark has also brought the recognition of sustainability back full circle to public housing: in 2007, Surbana Corporation's eco-precinct, Treelodge@Punggol, became the first public housing project to receive the BCA Green Mark Platinum award.
Other multinationals have developed literally alongside Singapore, answering the nation's sustainability and liveability needs with new technology through the years: one such is Hitachi, which has operated in Singapore since the 1960s, all through the decades of development and modernisation.
"We are proud to have walked through this journey with Singapore, witnessing the country's growth from a modest state to the First World country it is today," says Kiyoaki Iigaya, Hitachi's chief executive for Asia.
The company has also supplied state-of-the-art technology and products to Singapore in areas such as building facilities services and its management systems, covering high-end industrial plants, offices to housing.
Hitachi has also provided foundational systems such as energy generation transmission systems, public transport systems, water treatment and other social infrastructure systems including a dissipation array system that protects business assets and operations from the detrimental effects of lightning strikes - a significant risk in Singapore, which has one of the highest rates of lightning activity in the world. Buildings here that use the dissipation array system include M1's telecommunication towers.
Beautiful relationship with water
"Our water strategy goes beyond just looking at water as a resource," says CLC's Mr Khoo. "Over the years, we also recognised that while it is important to solve our water problem by putting in the right infrastructure, that infrastructure can be a blight on the urban environment if we do not take care with its design." Mr Khoo served as chief executive of the PUB from 2003 to 2011, and oversaw the drive to make Singapore the regional research and development
hub for water and wastewater treatment technology. One of the solutions that pioneered on his watch was NEWater, the reclaimed water that was initially greeted with suspicion and today - a decade after its launch in 2003 - meets 30 per cent of the nation's water needs and is accounted as one of the four national taps.
Over the years, as Singapore invested in multiple aspects of water management to meet the population's needs, an entire industry has sprung up around water: consultants, technology suppliers, manufacturers and sub-contractors are located here, and major events like the Singapore International Water Week bring in billions of dollars in business. Huge multinational corporations such as Hitachi are closely involved with Singapore's water industry, developing and supplying water treatment systems ranging from desalination - another of the four national taps - to sewage treatment and even monitoring and control systems for water treatment plants.
Now, to bring a human touch to the water industry, the PUB aims to educate people that water is an urban and environmental asset. In 2006, the ABC Waters (Active, Beautiful, Clean Waters) Programme was launched to ensure that Singapore's waterways are an attractive part of the urban environment.
"We are trying to get the idea across that water can also be an urban and environmental asset," explains Mr Khoo. "We want people to see that water is very much a part of our lives and we all have a responsibility to try and keep the water that flows in our homes, workplaces and schools clean."
Taking our expertise global
Today, Singapore exports its expertise in water management, tropics-specific sustainable building design, urban planning and even port operation to countries around the world. For example, BCA's Green Mark has been adopted in over 10 countries around the South-east Asian region and beyond, including China, Malaysia, Vietnam, Thailand and Indonesia.
Another factor in the globalisation of Singapore's experience has been the corporatisation of key agencies and statutory boards that were involved in the great modernisation drives of the early years. In 1997, for example, the Port of Singapore Authority was corporatised and replaced by PSA Corporation Ltd, and today, it operates as PSA International - a top international port operator with a huge network of ports located all along the major global shipping routes.
Another factor in the globalisation of Singapore's experience has been the corporatisation of key agencies and statutory boards that were involved in the great modernisation drives of the early years. In 1997, for example, the Port of Singapore Authority was corporatised and replaced by PSA Corporation Ltd, and today, it operates as PSA International - a top international port operator with a huge network of ports located all along the major global shipping routes.
Since then, PSA has expanded Singapore's port with an eye to the long term, and with good reason: the port still looms very large in Singapore's economy. At the 2012 launch of the expansions to Pasir Panjang Terminal, Minister for Transport Lui Tuck Yew said: "Today, our port remains a pillar of the domestic and regional economies, providing critical connectivity to global markets for the manufacturing sectors, and bringing in a wide range of goods needed by the economy and population."
The great builders of the early years have grown, too: in 2000, Jurong Town Corporation, the driving force behind Singapore's industrial development in the 1960s and 1970s, was corporatised and restructured as JTC Corporation. And in 2003, HDB's Building and Development Division was corporatised and two years later rebranded as Surbana Corporation, which specialises in sustainable urban solutions especially in developing countries. A number of the civil engineers who began their careers during those early decades stayed on during the corporatisations, and today apply their experience to the work of the private companies.
"When we go to the Third World countries we can know immediately, intuitively, what the solution is and how to approach it," says Jeffrey Ho, a senior consultant with Surbana International Consultants. Mr Ho, who began his career as a civil engineer with HDB's Building and Development Division in the 1970s, recalls how he and his colleagues worked on-site, with limited resources and only the most basic technology - and, in the process, gained a profound understanding of what worked and what didn't work. "The models we used may be out-of-date now in Singapore, but we are still applying them in our overseas work today," he adds.
As Singapore moves into the future, more things are bound to change, but planners and builders are sure of one thing: the approach that brought this nation out of the 1960s and into the 21st century will handle the changes well enough. "My view is that going forward, while we grapple with the problems of the future, as long as we adhere to the basic principles of doing planning well and having the right policies in place, I think we can continue to be innovative," adds CLC's Mr Khoo.
This is the second of a three-part series brought to you by Hitachi, in collaboration with Singapore Institute of Building Ltd, and with resource assistance from Centre for Liveable Cities Singapore. The final part, Building a Nation: Tomorrow, will be published on Aug 12
A landmark in water management
ONE of today's great landmarks in Singapore's water strategy is none other than the Marina Barrage. The barrage's history goes back more than two decades: as far back as 1987, then-Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew had raised the possibility of some day damming the river mouth to keep sea water out and fresh water in, turning the entire river into a huge reservoir for Singapore. His prediction proved visionary. In 2008, almost exactly 20 years later, the Marina Barrage was officially opened: the largest catchment in Singapore, joining 16 other reservoirs which together cover two-thirds of the island's total land area.
What people may not realise, however, is that the Marina Barrage was deliberately designed to serve multiple purposes. The area it dams off is a reservoir, one that provides 10 per cent of the nation's water needs, but the dam itself is also a flood-control mechanism - it both allows the venting of storm waters and protects the waterways from tidal influence. On top of that, the barrage is today a well-known recreational area, and this, too, was deliberate.
"We did not want a public works facility to just be very functional," says former PUB senior consultant Yap Kheng Guan, the project director of the Marina Barrage development. "We wanted it to be a place where people can come and celebrate what we've done for Singapore."
The thinking behind the barrage was about getting the most out of a public works project, and it called for a multi-agency approach. Other agencies such as the Urban Redevelopment Authority and the National Parks Board were brought in to help develop the aesthetics and architecture needed for making an otherwise unremarkable facility into a public space.
"The barrage shows the direction in which we've been taking our drainage programme. In the early days we were rushing for time and going for very practical solutions. But even in the 1980s, when designing and upgrading the canals and rivers, we were thinking of how to make them more than just functional," says Mr Yap of the evolution of Singapore's water management. "These spaces are all so near to where people work and live and enjoy themselves ... we want to make these places more enjoyable and encourage people to keep the water clean as it makes its way into the rivers and reservoirs."
"The barrage shows the direction in which we've been taking our drainage programme. In the early days we were rushing for time and going for very practical solutions. But even in the 1980s, when designing and upgrading the canals and rivers, we were thinking of how to make them more than just functional," says Mr Yap of the evolution of Singapore's water management. "These spaces are all so near to where people work and live and enjoy themselves ... we want to make these places more enjoyable and encourage people to keep the water clean as it makes its way into the rivers and reservoirs."
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