Speech by 2M Indranee Rajah at Society of Project Managers' 29th Anniversary Gala Dinner
Sep 20, 2024
Good evening. Thank you for inviting me to your 29th Anniversary Gala Dinner. It is a pleasure to be here this evening.
As we celebrate SPM’s 29th anniversary, this is not merely a celebration of years, but a tribute to the enduring contributions that you have made to Singapore’s nation-building journey.
From the iconic Marina Bay that is the centrepiece of Singapore’s urban transformation efforts, to our homes in the housing estates and heartlands.
Thank you for the hard work in turning development blueprints into reality.
As Prime Minister Lawrence Wong recently said, “we are never done building Singapore”. There are many exciting projects in the pipeline, such as Changi Terminal 5 and Kallang Alive. We will continue to lean on our project managers to partner other BE stakeholders to bring future projects to life.
To achieve our building aspirations, we will need a strong and dynamic BE sector, underpinned by a thriving community of BE professionals, including project managers.
This is why we have set up the Taskforce for Architectural and Engineering Consultancies, to look into issues confronting BE professionals. The Taskforce is co-chaired by Mr Chaly Mah, Chairman of Surbana Jurong Group and myself. I thank Bernard for representing SPM on the Taskforce. If you have any feedback and suggestions, please do channel them to Bernard and the SPM team.
Importance of Project Managers
Like captains of ships, project managers keep the ship tight and ensure that everyone is on track to deliver the project safely and on time.
You are also the main interface that connects different BE stakeholders, and play an important role in influencing how the sector transforms the way we plan, design, and build the future Singapore.
Let me share my thoughts on how project managers can make a difference in building a stronger and more dynamic BE sector by:
Facilitating collaborative relationships amongst project parties;
Championing digitalisation in the BE sector; and
Contributing to efforts to make the BE sector a career of choice.
Facilitating Collaborative Relationships
First, project managers play an integral role in facilitating collaborative relationships amongst project parties.
Today, construction projects are becoming more complex than before.
To optimise our limited land requires more integrated projects that bring synergistic uses under one roof. This will require tighter coordination across different user requirements.
In our highly built-up urban environment, new developments will also need to be thoughtfully integrated into the existing environment and minimise disruptions to their neighbours during construction.
There is also a growing demand to integrate more sustainability considerations into our projects.
Project teams have to juggle higher client expectations, tighter budgets and more pressing timelines.
All these require our stakeholders along the BE value chain to work more closely together.
One key enabler of effective collaboration is collaborative contracting.
Collaborative contracting puts in place structures such as regular partnering workshops to align project parties to common project goals, and an early warning mechanism to identify and resolve emerging issues upstream.
As project managers, you play a vital role in putting these collaborative principles into practice.
Take for example, Mr Gregory Chua, CapitaLand’s Project Director for the CapitaSpring integrated development project. Many of you may know that CapitaSpring brings together commercial, serviced residential, retail, a hawker centre and even an urban farm under one roof. You can imagine the amount of coordination needed to meet the various users’ requirements.
Not to mention that CapitaSpring faced significant COVID-19 disruptions that threatened to delay the project significantly.
In close collaboration with contractors, Gregory and team managed to troubleshoot issues and deliver the project smoothly, safely and on time for tenants to move-in.
This underscores the importance of project managers in catalysing collaborative working relationships to deliver good project outcomes.
I urge more projects teams to consider adopting more collaborative practices into their various workstreams.
Interested parties may consider utilising the option module for collaborative contracting in the Public Sector Standard Conditions of Contract, as well as localised clauses for the international NEC4 contract, that BCA has put out.
Championing Digitalisation
Next, technological innovations are changing the way we plan, design and build. For example, digital platforms can bring different project stakeholders together to exchange information more seamlessly and minimise coordination cost. These support project teams in delivering quality projects and value for clients.
One of our key initiatives is CORENET X, the one-stop digital platform for the industry to make integrated regulatory submissions for building works. By bringing several regulatory agencies together, we have reduced the number of regulatory touchpoints from 20 to just three submission gateways.
Since CORENET X was soft-launched in Dec 2023, we have made good progress. Through industry consultations, BCA has also taken in feedback from participating firms to refine the platform.
As project managers, you can help champion digitalisation efforts in our BE sector. I encourage all of you to familiarise yourselves with CORENET X as it is progressively rolled out for more projects. Project teams may consider making submissions to CORENET X during the ongoing voluntary submission phase. And consider attending the various CORENET X training to get up-to-speed.
Making BE Sector a Career of Choice
Finally, let me talk about attracting and developing talents. The BE sector must be able to recruit and retain a fair share of the best and brightest talents to meet Singapore’s development needs and aspirations. Once they join us, we must also engage and offer them diverse and meaningful career pathways to allow them to attain their full potential.
We have many ongoing initiatives to attract and develop talents for the sector. We have recently launched the Building Singapore (or “BuildSG”) Industry Branding Campaign to rally BE firms and professionals to uplift public perceptions of the sector.
We have also been reaching out to prospective talents through the iBuildSG Club, a BE-themed interest club, and iBuildSG BE Formation Programme, a pre-internship preparatory programme to develop our students’ interest about opportunities in our sector.
In partnership with sponsoring BE firms, Singapore-Industry Scholarships are also available, to groom a pipeline of talents for the sector.
I am glad that we have SPM as a key partner in our talent efforts. For example, SPM worked with BCA to develop and launch the Accreditation of Project Managers (APM) scheme.
The scheme provides a tiered framework to recognise our project managers’ competency levels. It also charts out pathways to guide our project managers in furthering their expertise. I am heartened to hear that more than 900 project managers have been accredited since the scheme was launched in November 2022.
SPM has also been recognising the hard work of our current and aspiring project managers through its awards and book prizes. As the competition of talent intensifies, we will need to double down on our efforts to make the BE sector the career of choice.
Our BE firms will need to create more conducive and attractive workplaces to meet the changing needs of our workforce. This can be done through adopting progressive HR practices, such as by providing competitive remuneration and actively supporting employees in their career development.
Firms that embrace technologies and redesign jobs will also be able to offer more exciting career opportunities to prospective talents. In our respective roles, all of you can be advocates for improved workplace practices and use of innovative technologies. In your respective communities, you are also an ambassador of the profession, to welcome and guide new talents when they join the profession.
After all, it will take our collective effort to make the BE sector the career of choice.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the Government is committed to supporting the BE sector as we shape the Singapore of tomorrow, together. Finally, I would like to congratulate SPM, as well as tonight’s award winners.
For the winners of the Outstanding Project Manager Awards, thank you for making a difference through your projects. I look forward to seeing more of your projects come to life.
For the students receiving the book prizes, I wish you all the best in your studies, and I look forward to your contributions to the BE sector in the near future.
Thank you and have a good evening ahead.