Speech by 2M Indranee Rajah for Professional Engineers Board (PEB) Day of Dedication 2023
Nov 9, 2023
Er Lim Peng Hong, President, PEB
Distinguished Guests
Ladies and Gentlemen
1. Thank you for inviting me to join you for PEB’s annual Day of Dedication. Today is the day we welcome newly minted Professional Engineers (PEs), Specialist PEs and ASEAN Chartered PEs into our Built Environment sector family. It is also the occasion to affirm the contributions and achievements of our PEs, and for PEs to renew your passion for engineering, and your dedication to this meaningful profession.
Role and Contributions of PEs
2. Singapore’s rapid transformation from a backwater of crowded tenements to a vibrant metropolis is attributable in no small part to our dedicated engineers.
3. The engineers have been at the forefront of every phase of our development. In the 1960s, housing shortage and urban renewal were of top priority. When the pioneer generation had to build homes rapidly to relocate people from crowded squatter settlements to HDB public housing, the engineers were there.
4. In the 1970s and 1980s, we needed city development to generate economic growth and jobs. When we built up our city centre and established a comprehensive transport network to support growth and development, the engineers were there.
5. In the 2000s, our development took on a global dimension. With increased international competition for talent and investment, we needed to rise beyond national development and become a cosmopolitan global city. When we took Singapore to the next level of a global city with state-of-the-art infrastructure and made it a destination of choice, to live, work and play, the engineers were also there.
6. Throughout the transformation journey, our engineers demonstrated high levels of professionalism and ethics. Your unwavering commitment to safety gave us confidence and peace of mind in the knowledge that our homes, workplaces and public spaces are safe, liveable and workable.
7. Your creativity and ingenuity enabled us to overcome our limited land and resources, and turned these constraints into opportunities. Some notable engineering accomplishments in Singapore include the Marina Coastal Expressway, Singapore’s first undersea tunnel; Changi Jewel and its distinctive domed façade and 40-metre tall indoor waterfall that has earned international acclamation; and our Tuas Mega Port which has just recently opened last year. The Tuas Mega Port will reinforce Singapore’s status as a leading international maritime centre, and will free up prime land for development of the Greater Southern Waterfront.
8. Through your efforts, Singapore is today a leader in urban development and our transformation is now a source of inspiration to others.
Engineering Our Tomorrow
9. Now as we build our Singapore of tomorrow, we will once again need our engineers.
10. The ForwardSG Report launched by DPM Wong last month is our roadmap to the future. A key theme we have heard is that Singaporeans want Singapore to continue to be a liveable city. This means that we will need to carefully balance land needs for economic development, public housing, as well as green and recreational spaces for today and tomorrow.
11. The professional services under the Built Environment sector will play an increasingly important role in building our future city. This includes finding new solutions and ways of building to overcome our limited land and environmental resources, as well as forming new partnerships with stakeholders within and outside the sector. Our professional services also need to transform and keep up with changing times so as to capture new opportunities.
12. One of the greatest and most pressing challenge of building Singapore for tomorrow is climate change. Climate change is an existential threat for humanity as a whole, but especially so for Singapore. As a low-lying city-state, we are vulnerable to rising sea levels. We are also already experiencing rising temperatures, compounded by our densely built-up environment. Climate change also poses risks to our food and water security, public health, and biodiversity.
13. We will have to build future Singapore in way that goes far beyond our current levels of sustainability. In order to achieve our net zero ambitions, we will once again have to call on our engineers to rise to the occasion.
14. Let me touch on two areas in which good engineering will make all the difference.
Coastal Protection
15. First, coastal protection. Singapore is a low-lying island, and 30% of our land area is less than 5 metres above the mean sea level. The Centre for Climate Research Singapore estimates that the mean sea level around Singapore could rise by up to 1 metre by 2100. Combined with extreme rainfall and storm surges, there could be serious impacts on our infrastructure, our community and our livelihoods.
16. PUB has already commenced site-specific studies for different parts of our coastlines to understand their characteristics and develop targeted coastal protection measures. They will share more about these efforts and their progress later.
17. As we work to protect against rising sea levels, there will be abundant opportunities for engineers to be involved in the design, implementation and maintenance of our coastal protection measures. This includes considering how coastal protection can be integrated with other social and recreational uses. An example of such an engineering marvel is Marina Barrage which is multi-functional. It is not only used for flood control, but also serves Singapore as a vital water source and at the same time is a lifestyle attraction.
18. We will need engineering expertise in fields such as soil mechanics, flood management and environmental hydraulics, to name just a few. Protecting Singapore against rising sea levels will require a pipeline of engineering talent over the long term. The Coastal Protection and Flood Resilience Institute (CFI) Singapore is dedicated to strengthening local capabilities and expertise in coastal protection and flood management. CFI Singapore offers a wide range of programmes, such as workforce training programmes and scientific seminars to drive collaboration across the industry.
19. I encourage all of you today to consider some of these programmes, and equip yourselves or your employees with the skills and knowledge to contribute to this important effort.
Decarbonising our Built Environment
20. Another key area is decarbonising our built environment. Today, buildings account for around 20% of Singapore’s carbon emissions and more than a third of electricity consumption. Reducing our buildings’ carbon emissions and building net-zero cities is an imperative if we are to achieve net zero emissions globally by mid-century to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius.
21. Under the Singapore Green Building Masterplan, we have set three ambitious targets, or “80-80-80 in 2030”, to green our buildings. These are to green 80% of our buildings by 2030, for 80% of our new developments to meet Super Low energy (or SLE) standards from 2030, and for our best-in-class buildings to achieve 80% improvement in energy efficiency from 2005 levels by 2030. We have seen promising progress on all of these targets but must continue to sustain this momentum.
22. I seek your support and your expertise in furthering our green building efforts. For example, as engineers, you can support our efforts to mainstream SLE buildings by challenging and moving away from conventional building design. This could involve designing for more spaces to be naturally ventilated, adopting hybrid cooling solutions and deploying rooftop and façade photovoltaics to maximise renewable energy that is harnessed onsite.
23. To do this work, I encourage you to build up your knowledge and expertise. The BCA Academy offers training courses for Built Environment professionals to increase their green building expertise. These courses cover areas such as lifecycle carbon analysis, solar modelling and energy performance modelling.
24. As engineers, you have a direct hand in building a more resilient, lower-carbon built environment. Your engineering efforts and innovations will also enable Singapore to harness sustainability as a competitive advantage and position Singapore as a sustainability hub, one where innovative and cost-effective green engineering solutions can be catalysed, developed and then exported to the region and the world.
25. Next year, Infrastructure Asia will be organising the Asia Infrastructure Forum (AIF) in June. Infrastructure Asia’s role is to be a platform that connects supply and demand in infrastructure, and it provides an opportunity for our Built Environment professionals to connect with those in the infrastructure space regionally. The multilateral development banks, international companies and those who have an interest in infrastructure will be there. So I would strongly encourage PEB members to attend the AIF next year. We are looking to see if we can organise a panel discussion on professional services, in order to have sustainable infrastructure. It is something that should be quite interesting because there are leaders all over the world that will come to discuss this, and I am sure that all of you will have something very meaningful to contribute to the discussion, given Singapore’s efforts in sustainability.
Recognising outstanding PEs
26. Today, we want to recognise two outstanding PEs, Er. Wong Seng and Er. Ng Choon Yeang, whose engineering innovations have led to improvements in productivity and environmental outcomes.
27. Er. Wong is the Managing Director of TW-Asia Consultants Pte Ltd. He is being recognised today for his pioneering innovation in concrete prefabricated prefinished volumetric construction (or PPVC) technology using a composite shear wall system.
28. The technology involves a LEGO-like construction method where PPVC modules of the same floor are joined side-by-side, and then floor-by-floor. This innovation has not only enabled significant productivity improvements, but it also boasts many other advantages. For example, the use of thin PPVC composite walls means more usable room space. There are also notable environmental benefits such as the reduction of noise and dust pollution at the project site given that most of the construction activity is completed off-site.
29. The second recipient of the Innovative PE Award is Er. Ng Choon Yeang, Deputy Group Director for Rail Infrastructure and Expansion at LTA. He is being recognised for pioneering the use of Steel Fibre Reinforced Concrete (SFRC) for the Downtown Line 3’s tunnel segments. While SFRC is traditionally used in Singapore for non-structural components, Er. Ng spearheaded studies to test and implement SFRC for permanent tunnel segments in our underground rail.
30. The success of its use in Downtown Line 3 has led to the extensive use of SFRC in LTA’s subsequent MRT tunnelling works such as the Thomson East Coast Line and the Cross Island Line. Compared to the use of traditional steel bar reinforced concrete for other MRT projects, the use of SFRC has improved productivity for segment production by up to 25%, resulting in cost savings. The maintenance required is also lower as SFRC segments are more resistant to corrosion and fire damage.
31. I thank Er. Wong and Er. Ng for their innovative and can-do spirit. In the face of global challenges like climate change and increasing resource scarcity, innovation will be critical for new solutions and pathways towards a more sustainable future.
32. On this note, I encourage our engineering firms to tap on Government grants to spur innovation in your areas of work, and to drive your business transformation plans. For example, Enterprise Singapore’s Enterprise Development Grant provides funding support to local companies to upgrade, innovate, grow and transform your business. The grant also supports the development of innovative technology and products with the end goal of commercialisation.
33. ESG’s Enterprise Financing Scheme – Green (or EFS Green) also helps local companies access financing for sustainability-related initiatives, including the development of technologies and solutions for green infrastructure.
34. Engineering firms with ideas that push the boundaries of building energy efficiency can also consider tapping on the Green Building Innovation Cluster Programme 2.0 where up to 70% of qualifying costs will be supported.
35. I think I have spoken long enough. Let me conclude by sending my warmest congratulations to the newly registered PEs, Specialist PEs and ASEAN Chartered PEs, as well as the award recipients today.
36. To our engineers in the room, we owe so much of what we enjoy today – our quality housing and our efficient transportation systems – to all of you. Thank you for doing what you do.
37. The challenges ahead also present new and exciting opportunities in the field of engineering. Building our future Singapore is something we cannot do without you, so the 4G team and I look forward to building our future Singapore with you. Thank you all very much.
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