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THE building and construction industry here should look at two new growth areas as it forges ahead despite the economic downturn, Senior Minister of State for National Development and Education Grace Fu said yesterday.
She was speaking to developers and contractors at the Building and Construction Authority (BCA)'s annual award ceremony. A total of 151 awards were given out this year, compared with 97 last year, as the industry worked towards building a safe, high-quality and sustainable built environment in Singapore.
In her speech, Ms Fu identified complex civil engineering works and sustainable development as two emerging growth areas.
'Our local builders have the potential to take on complex civil engineering works,' she said. In Singapore's densely built-up environment, civil engineering projects will become more complex, she noted. Infrastructure works such as underground expressways and MRT tunnels also require different skills, expertise and equipment.
'I encourage the industry to capitalise on the potential pipeline of works that includes about $50 billion of civil engineering projects in the next 10 years, to recruit and train staff in the relevant areas of expertise, invest in technology and build capability to take on such complex projects,' Ms Fu said.
Another key emerging growth area is sustainable development, she said.
The recently launched Sustainable Singapore blueprint sets out goals and initiatives for 2030, to improve energy efficiency. One aim is to reduce Singapore's overall energy intensity by 35 per cent from 2005 levels by 2030. To achieve this, BCA aims to 'green' 80 per cent of buildings here by 2030.
The high number of awards given out by BCA this year is mainly due to a spike in the number of buildings certified 'green'. Some 103 buildings were certified under BCA's Green Mark scheme this year, up from 69 last year.
'The significant increase of award winners this year is a very positive indicator of the success, and of the industry's support, of BCA's efforts to create an excellent built environment for Singaporeans,' said BCA chief executive John Keung.
Following interest from the public and private sectors in 'greening' properties, BCA this year expanded the Green Mark scheme to offer certification in three more categories - infrastructure, office interiors and landed houses. Previously, the Green Mark scheme was only offered to buildings.
Singapore's building and construction industry is the only sector that is growing this year against a backdrop of weak external demand and negative economic growth forecasts. The sector grew 24.4 per cent year on year in Q1 2009.
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