Speech by Mr Desmond Lee at 47th International Federation of Asian and Western Pacific Contractors’ Association (IFAWPCA) Convention Opening Ceremony

Apr 9, 2025

A very good morning to all of you. I am delighted to join everyone today for the opening of the 47^th Convention of the International Federation of Asian and Western Pacific Contractors’ Association (IFAWPCA). To all our overseas delegates and friends, a warm welcome to Singapore.

Singapore had the privilege to last host this Convention more than 20 years ago, back in 2003. We are honoured to have the opportunity to host the Convention again this year. Congratulations to Mr Kenneth Loo and his team for working together with SCAL and partners to organise this event, and for bringing us all together.

The IFAWPCA Convention is an important platform for construction professionals across our region to come here, share best practices, collaborate, and build capabilities. As Mr Kenneth Loo said, the changing global environment is important, for regional partners to work together, to adapt and adjust, and to find opportunities going forward.

Our many landmarks in Singapore are the result of strong partnerships between Singaporean construction firms and our international partners and friends. For instance, you may have heard of Jewel Changi Airport, our nature-themed shopping mall within our airport. It features the world’s tallest indoor waterfall. Jewel was built through a joint venture between Woh Hup, one of our leading construction firms; and Obayashi, a renowned Japanese construction firm with a global presence. Their partnership has contributed to the appeal and vibrancy of our global air hub.

Advanced Manufacturing in our Construction Supply Chain

The theme for this year’s convention is “Embracing Construction of Tomorrow”. This is something that my colleagues and I constantly think about, and work closely with SCAL and other Built Environment sector partners on the way forward.

As Mr Kenneth Loo said, Singapore faces tight resource constraints. We are a small island city-state, with no hinterland, and no natural resources to rely on.

For the construction industry, this means that we need to make the most of our limited resources to meet the construction needs of a growing nation. We achieve this by shifting towards advanced construction methods and facilities that are more land-efficient, productive, and sustainable.

Allow me to share three ways that we are doing this. First, by adopting Design for Manufacturing and Assembly (or DfMA). This refers to various productive construction methods where components are designed and manufactured off-site, in controlled environments. This allows us to build better, safer, and with less reliance on manual labour.

Today, DfMA is widely applied for large projects, across both the public and private sectors. In fact, all new public housing projects are constructed using an extensive amount of standardised precast components. DfMA has also been adopted for private residential projects. One good example is Avenue South Residences, a condominium that was completed in 2023. Standing high at 56 storeys high, it is the world’s tallest residential building constructed using Prefabricated Prefinished Volumetric Construction (or PPVC).

Second, the adoption of Robotics and Automation (or R&A). Last year, around 20 different robotic solutions were deployed at over 50 construction projects – for wall skimming and painting; drilling and anchoring; tile grouting; and other finishing works that are typically labour intensive.

Third, transforming our construction facilities. For our concreting and precasting needs, we first moved from precasting in large open precast yards that required a lot of land, to Integrated Construction and Prefabrication Hubs (or ICPHs), which are automated, multi-storey facilities that take up less land.

We recently took this a step further, by bringing together and co-locating different construction facilities. Last year, we launched Singapore’s first Integrated Construction Park (ICP), known as the Jurong Port Integrated Construction Park. It houses various key construction facilities that are part of the supply chain for construction materials – for example, an aggregate terminal for the import of materials, storage facilities, concrete batching plants, and an upcoming ICPH. Not only is this more land-efficient, but it also saves transportation time, and reduces the carbon footprint from truck trips across Singapore.

Expansion of the Land Intensification Allowance Scheme

The Government will continue to encourage the development of construction facilities that use land efficiently. For example, through the Land Intensification Allowance (or LIA), we provide firms with tax allowance on their capital investment for land-efficient buildings. We announced last month that the LIA scheme will be extended until the end of 2030.

Currently, for the construction sector, the LIA applies only to ICPHs. I am happy to share that from 1 January 2026, the LIA will be expanded to include other multi-storey DfMA facilities as well. These include facilities that perform fit-out works; store precast components; or produce other DfMA components – such as Mass Engineered Timber (MET), and prefabricated Mechanical, Electrical and Plumbing (MEP) systems.

Supported applicants will receive an initial tax allowance of 25% of the qualifying capital expenditure, during the construction stage. Subsequently, they will receive annual tax allowances of 5% of the qualifying capital expenditure, until the total allowance received reaches 100%.

I encourage our contractors and firms to reach out to BCA to find out more about the enhancements to the LIA.

Building Sustainably

The construction of tomorrow is not just about building efficiently. We must also study and explore new methods of construction that allow our construction industry to build more sustainably.

As a low-lying island, climate change and rising sea levels are existential threats to Singapore. We also have limited alternative energy sources, given our land and resource constraints. Hence, sustainability is not a choice for us. It is an absolute necessity.

With buildings accounting for over 20% of Singapore’s carbon emissions, a key effort is making our buildings greener, smarter, and more energy efficient. Our plans to do so are captured in the Singapore Green Building Master Plan, which serves as a guiding document for decarbonising our Built Environment sector.

Let me briefly share some of our key targets and efforts towards improving energy efficiency for our buildings. For new buildings – we target to have 80% of new buildings meet Super Low Energy (SLE) standards from 2030 onwards. This means that they are to achieve at least a 60% improvement in energy efficiency compared to the 2005 baseline.

For older buildings, we will be introducing the Mandatory Energy Improvement (MEI) regime from the third quarter of this year. This will require owners of energy-intensive buildings to conduct energy audits and develop improvement plans to reduce the energy consumption of their buildings.

This push for energy efficiency also extends to the construction of our buildings. We want to make the construction process more sustainable, and encourage firms to adopt greener practices.

The Government is providing support to the construction sector through the Energy Efficiency Grant (or EEG), which provides up to 70% funding support to construction firms for adopting energy-efficient construction equipment. Applications for the EEG for the construction sector are open on the Business Grants Portal.

Beyond sustainability, we will also support firms in building their long-term capabilities. We have recently announced the new Built Environment Technology and Capability Grant (or BETC Grant), which will provide our companies with up to 70% funding support to develop long-term enterprise capabilities, manpower capabilities, and adopt advanced technologies that surpass current industry norms. Applications for both the BETC and the EEG are available on the Business Grants Portal.

We hope that with the support of both grants, our firms can leverage efficiencies to combine their efforts to green their operations, and strengthen their digital and technological capabilities.

To conclude, the future of construction is one that must be more efficient and sustainable.

This is not easy. It requires close partnership and collaboration across the entire value chain, advances in innovation and technology, and a commitment to build longer-term capabilities within our organisations.

But we must get it right, in order to continue building an endearing home and a distinctive global city – for today’s generation, and for future generations.

Singapore does not have a monopoly on ideas and innovations. We are very eager to learn from all of you, so that we can shape the construction landscape of tomorrow.

Thank you all, and I now declare the IFAWPCA Convention Singapore 2025 open. Have a meaningful convention, and good networking and partnership ahead!