Speech by MOS Desmond Lee at the Singapore Contractors Association Limited (SCAL) 78th Annual Dinner

Sep 23, 2015

A very good evening to all of you. It is my pleasure to join you for SCAL’s 78th Anniversary Dinner.

BE sector’s contribution in nation building 

From your humble beginnings in 1937 – from a small office in Chinatown, pre-independence, pre-World War II – SCAL has come a long way, and your members, both pioneers and present, have made very significant contributions to nation-building literally, and continue to do so to this very day. 

We can see it all around us – in our public housing, our MRT system, office skyscrapers, our recreational spaces, and our ever-changing skyline. 

As a business association, SCAL has given voice to our builders’ concerns and provided valuable feedback to the Government. In fact, Mr Kenneth Loo’s speech earlier serving up the state of the industry, and the way ahead. This is one such reflection of the role of SCAL. This has helped to shape and improve various policies for the betterment of the sector.

This year, we celebrate 50 years of nationhood. Our next 50 years promises to be even better. 

To prepare for the future and to play our part in the continuing Singapore Story, our construction sector and built environment sector should aspire to be highly integrated, to be advanced, and to be skilled. 

Push towards DfMA 

How do we achieve this aspiration? 

One of the ways to do this is to transform the way we build by embracing Design for Manufacturing and Assembly or DfMA. In fact, the first ICPH by SEF was opened just this morning by my colleague at Kaki Bukit, there is more to come. 

Instead of labour-intensive construction, we maximise work done off-site. 

With a higher degree of prefabrication and mechanisation, we can not only build faster and achieve higher quality, but our construction sites will also generate less noise and less dust. 

It is not a perfect analogy, but we can construct buildings a little bit like how cars and airplanes are manufactured and assembled in factories. 

We are making a strong push for DfMA. For instance, the adoption of high-impact productive technologies is now a condition under the Government Land Sales (GLS) programme for selected residential GLS sites. 

And to ensure that we walk the talk, we give increasing weightage to productivity when evaluating tenders for government construction projects. This is being rolled out in phases. 

We also want to encourage collaboration amongst project stakeholders. 

Every one of us here has a part to play in this drive towards DfMA. 

For instance, our builders will have to work with developers and designers in the early stages of design and planning, to optimise designs and specify the use of productive technologies to reduce construction manpower needed downstream. 

We have also developed four Early Contractor Involvement models or ECI models for use in the public sector projects. BCA has worked closely with MOH and the People’s Association, to adopt the ECI model in several projects, such as the Changi Medical Centre and the Bedok Integrated Complex. 

A skilled workforce to anchor the BE sector 

To support the shift towards DfMA, we need higher skilled workers or R1 workers as well as Professionals, Managers, Executives and Technicians (PMETs) and they must form a higher proportion of our workforce. 

After consulting closely with SCAL, the Government implemented a two-year upgrading phase where construction firms will need to upgrade 5% of our basic skilled R2 workers to higher skilled R1 workers by the end of the year, and another 5% next year. This after very close consultation with SCAL and the industry. 

This will help firms to meet the minimum 10% R1 requirement from 1 January 2017. 

As is stands, more than half of our 5,600 firms – many of them represented here, that are required to send their workers for upgrading in 2015 have already done so, and continue to do so. 

We need to partner all of you to reshape and upskill the quality of our workforce. Transformation is never easy. 

I would also like to highlight that SCAL will be launching a new portal next month – as President Loo had earlier mentioned, to help match employers and eligible foreign workers. Known as the “Foreign Construction Worker Directory System”, it will help facilitate the search for suitable manpower for firms and the retention of skilled workers here in Singapore. This is a good and commendable initiative. 

Training and upgrading our workforce 

To increase the number of higher skilled workers and professionals in our sector, we need to provide more opportunities for our workers to hone their skills and learn new ones. 

This can be done through the Workforce Training & Upgrading Fund (WTU Fund), which supports upgrading at every level. 

We will support productivity-related courses, in particular, to equip our industry with knowledge in Building Information Modelling (BIM) and other important, game-changing technologies. 

This Fund was recently enhanced, so that Singaporeans get even higher subsidies, as much as 90% of course fees. So, a 4-day certification course in BIM management offered by BCA Academy now costs $172 after subsidy, and makes it much more affordable for our companies. So I encourage all of you to take up these courses and make good use of all the subsidies and schemes to help transform our firms, and transform the industry. In fact, a few days ago I met a young man who is not in the construction sector, he is in F&B – food manufacturing, and he had to take over his firm after his dad passed away suddenly. He just graduated from University earlier this year, and he had to work and take over his dad’s firm. Imagine the amount of pressure supporting his mum, supporting his family, as an undergraduate running a business, packaging manufacturing of food. As I talked to him, he was rattling off that he knows about this scheme and that scheme, he is trying to maximise it. I said that he can be a spokesperson for many of the agencies that are pushing this, and likewise many in the construction and built environment sector who know to maximise the schemes the Government provides, transform and upgrade the industry. 

Separately, as we want Singaporeans to remain at the heart and core of the built environment sector, attracting and retaining Singaporeans in the industry is a top priority. To do so, BCA has enhanced our Built Environment scholarships and sponsorships to provide a clearer and more complete progression for both academic as well as competency-based pathways. Some of you here have also collaborated with BCA to offer joint scholarships to our students. With your support, BCA will continue to do more to make its scholarships and sponsorships more sought after to local students. In fact again on Monday evening, I had a father bringing in his son who had just finished polytechnic, who asked me, “hey my son wants to work as a Professional Engineer and work in the built environment sector, how can I get him all the information he needs.” and so I asked him, I asked the young man, “do you know how tough this industry is, no air-con, you don’t wear a suit and tie, you’re out there in the sun, but you’re building something,” He said, “yes, I’m not afraid of the sun, I’m not afraid of sweating, I want to be out there.” So I am looking forward to this young man being representative of many Singaporeans coming back to engineering, coming back to basics, coming back to build this country. 

Conclusion 

The journey ahead is an exciting one for the sector. We cannot drive the transformation of the sector on our own. The Government is the facilitator. We need to continue to work closely with SCAL and our industry partners to effect the changes. I look forward to your strong support for these initiatives. 

On this very special evening, I wish all of you good health, success and prosperity on your 78th Anniversary and many more good years to come. Please enjoy your dinner. Thank you.