Speech by Minister Desmond Lee at the MND Family National Day Observance Ceremony 2023
Aug 8, 2023
Colleagues from the MND family and friends from other agencies, good morning and happy 58th National Day!
Singapore has come a long way to become a green, dynamic and liveable city that we call home today. And this was made possible only with the determination, hard work and creativity of Singaporeans, including those in our MND family, past and present.
This National Day Observance Ceremony is a time for us to recognise the hard work of colleagues, reflect on the past year, and look forward to the future. This progress we have enjoyed is also a reminder of the challenges that we will continue to face:
a. Our small size for instance, is a perpetual constraint. Many people know that we’re a city-state but not many people realise we are the world’s only sovereign city-state, and do not have the luxury of expanding outwards as we develop. This means that we have to fit everything that a sovereign nation needs within 733 km2; and the trade-offs are becoming increasingly acute. We have to be more careful and deliberate about conserving biodiversity, heritage and history, while also meeting and balancing the different needs of Singaporeans.
b. Our society is also ageing very rapidly. By the end of this decade, just seven years’ time, one in four of Singaporeans will be above the age of 65. This will change the way we build, to meet mobility, care and housing needs. We will have to transform the way we do things, to be more productive and dynamic to meet the needs of our economy, our society and our community with fewer people of working age over time.
c. We also have to deal with the looming threat of climate change. As a low-lying island, Singapore is especially vulnerable to climate change, and we are feeling the impact of this. If we do nothing, Singapore’s way of life and very existence will be under threat.
MND’s Year In Review
Even as we continued to grapple with the immediate effects of COVID-19, we have been making very important moves to address these longer-term challenges. And that is one of our strengths – we remain able now to still look forward way into the future.
Housing remains a major focus, as we work hard to meet the needs and aspirations of Singaporeans. To meet strong demand, we ramped up our public and private housing supply and introduced cooling measures to stabilise the residential property market.
As part of Forward Singapore, we have also been engaging Singaporeans on the new social compact, in particular, how they see the future of housing. In fact, last week, we had a conversation, National Youth Council organised it with us, and we spoke to singles, Second-Timers, and they shared lots of interesting ideas to make public housing more inclusive. Some of those ideas are relevant for the here and now, some may be useful in the future.
We also marked important milestones in our efforts to make our city greener and more sustainable. In October last year, DPM Lawrence Wong announced our ambitions for Singapore to be net zero by 2050. For a city-state like ours, this target is no mean feat. There are much larger, more well-endowed countries that have the same timeline.
MND plays a major part in this effort as we work to green our buildings. We commemorate 60 years of tree planting this year, another important milestone in our efforts to green Singapore.
Our founding Prime Minister Lee Kwan Yew launched the first nationwide tree-planting campaign in 1963, and we continue this tradition of stewardship by growing Singapore into a City in Nature.
We have also been pushing ahead in our efforts to transform the Built Environment sector. This sector is a backbone for our economic and infrastructure development. Not just building homes, but building communities, building industry and spaces that Singaporeans need.
We announced the refreshed Construction Industry Transformation Map in September last year, to build an industry that is more dynamic, resilient and productive. This will involve shifting away decisively from the current manpower-intensive way of doing things, to one that is supported from start to finish by a strong digital spine and can reap the benefits of robotics, automation and other more productive ways of construction.
This will also make it easier for individuals, builders and developers throughout the value chain to collaborate with one another and coordinate more effectively. We have worked with the industry to support this through CORENET X and collaborative contracting, amongst other innovations.
Next month, I will also be attending the World Cities Summit Mayors Forum in Seoul while my colleague SMS Sim Ann will be going to China to mark the 15th anniversary of the Sino-Singapore Tianjin Eco-city. We have been gradually resuming our engagements with the rest of the world and we want to continue to build connections and platforms so that MND and Singapore can continue to play a leading role on the international stage.
Minister’s Award
Let me now turn to the 15 projects that have won the Minister’s Award this year. The Award is a recognition of the hard work by our colleagues and marks some major achievements within the MND family; but beyond that I also want to thank all our partners from different agencies who have collaborated with MND colleagues to make these projects happen.
These projects demonstrate some key principles of how we organise ourselves to address the long-term challenges ahead. Not just the projects themselves are meaningful, but the way in which you’ve gone about doing them actually reflects the principles of how the wider family works together.
Firstly, we will have to work more closely as one MND family, and across the whole of government. The policy issues we have to grapple with will be increasingly complex – this is particularly salient for infrastructure issues, where urban planning, housing, social challenges, greenery, nature and heritage conservation and construction productivity are often closely intertwined.
We will have to break down silos and work across boundaries as one MND family, to understand the considerations across different parts of the family. We will also work have to closely with partners and stakeholders across Government.
For example, in its integrated municipal operations pilot, MSO worked with NParks, HDB, along with NEA, LTA, PUB, SPF and PSD to offer a one-stop portal to address issues and questions from residents quickly and holistically. Cases were closed more quickly, and residents were noticeably more satisfied with the outcomes.
To combat the illegal wildlife and animal trade, NParks worked closely with MND, ICA, HTX, SPF and Singapore Customs to share information, conduct joint operations and revise laws and regulations.
Second, engagement with members of the public will also play an increasingly prominent role in our policy making and our operations. In fact, it is a new “compulsory module”. Many of the award winners today demonstrate that: for example, CLC’s Resilient Coast & City project, MSO’s Community Advisory Panel on Neighbourhood Noise, HDB’s Heartland Shops Study.
Let me highlight the efforts by Housing, HDB and SCED in the ForwardSG engagements on public housing. Colleagues conducted numerous roadshows, many surveys and facilitated a lot of conversations. They also took some risk and piloted techniques such as gamification to help members of the public recognise trade-offs and discuss how to shape the new social compact on housing.
I attended a few of these sessions, and was struck by how energised and engaged participants were in these conversations, because of the facilitative manner in which we conducted them, and the novel techniques we used to enable members of public to put themselves in the shoes of our HDB and Housing colleagues.
These discussions and ideas were instrumental in the design of some new policies, for example, the First-timer (Parents & Married Couples) category, to support married couples and those with children in the home-buying journey so that they can settle down more quickly. We are still studying the many suggestions on public housing, and will announce some other major changes when ready.
Third, we have to become more nimble and agile. The policy-making cycle has become a lot quicker. Our policies and supporting infrastructure such as IT systems and organisational structures have to adapt and respond quickly. We have to adopt new technology to improve our processes and be more responsive to the needs of Singaporeans. We have to be willing to try and recognise that failure is part of the process of trying.
Two projects by BCA demonstrated this spirit: In the first project, BCA pushed the lift industry to adopt Remote Monitoring and Diagnostics solutions. No other country had introduced standards or regulations before, so BCA created a regulatory sandbox. This allowed companies to trial and fine-tune their processes, and also allow them to experience first-hand the productivity gains while not compromising on safety.
In the second example, the team working on Phase 2 of the Intensification Project at BCA’s Braddell Campus incorporated cutting edge digital tools and construction technology to improve coordination, increase productivity and lead the way in building differently – a clear demonstration to the rest of the construction sector of what is possible.
These are just some of the projects that I was able to mention. You will hear more about what all 15 projects achieved, as well as see the faces behind the success. Congratulations to all our teams!
Conclusion
There are many things to be proud of as one MND family, and our work is far from done. In fact, it’s never done.
Many of you have been working long hours and late nights – throughout the pandemic and even now. We appreciate your hard work, tenacity and commitment to the mission.
The journey can be uncertain, and sometimes frustrating, but I hope you take pride in the fact that we are stewards for future generations, working to build a country, a tiny city-state that is sure of its past, and confident and ready to face the challenges of the future.
Wishing all colleagues a Happy 58th National Day.