Uma Shankari Business Times 20 Oct 11;
SPRING Singapore chairman Philip Yeo believes that Singapore has to keep grooming its talent pool as it exports its expertise in urban planning overseas.
'A lot of countries come to us for help not just for designing the physical properties - architects can do that - but to learn how we run Singapore,' said Mr Yeo, who was speaking at a dialogue organised by the Centre for Liveable Cities yesterday.
So, the requests are for Singapore's 'software' as well as its 'hardware', he said.
Mr Yeo has helped to export Singapore's expertise in urban planning to numerous investment projects in countries such as China, India and Indonesia.
Projects he spearheaded include the International Tech Park Bangalore in India, the Vietnam-Singapore Industrial Park, and Suzhou Industrial Park in China.
In the years to come, Singapore can continue to export its urban planning solutions to cities that have populations of around 10 million in size, Mr Yeo said.
In particular, there are opportunities in second-tier cities in China and India, Mr Yeo said.
But urban consultants and investors who venture into both countries face a different set of challenges in each, he said.
In China, entrants could face stiff competition, Mr Yeo said: 'Four or five other industrial parks can spring up around you.'
In India, by contrast, the biggest challenge is that 'you have to do everything yourself', such as putting in the relevant infrastructure from scratch.
Mr Yeo, who is also a former chairman of the Economic Development Board (EDB) and the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*Star), also shared with the audience some of the challenges he faced while planning some of Singapore's more ambitious projects.
For example, industrial landlord JTC was opposed to developing Jurong Island at first, he said.
'They wanted to know, why did we want to reclaim Jurong Island when there are no customers, there was no one coming?' Mr Yeo recalled.
So while there will also be opponents to any plan, 'the key is just to do your job and do it right', he said.
Liveable city's bedrock is diversity of talent: Philip Yeo
Esther Teo Straits Times 20 Oct 11;
DIVERSITY of talent, not buildings, is the bedrock of a liveable city.
On that basis, Singapore should strive to keep attracting top people from around the globe, Spring Singapore chairman Philip Yeo said at a lecture yesterday.
'What makes a city alive is people, it's not buildings, and if you really want to grow and develop, you need to be able to take in talent,' he added.
With its low birth rate, Singapore's limit on growth is its people.
That means the Republic must keep attracting talent to navigate and remain relevant in the global economic landscape, he added on the sidelines of a dialogue organised by The Centre of Livable Cities at URA Centre yesterday.
'The younger population is also mostly tertiary educated now and the key is to find economic activities that can use this talent... More design, more engineering, automated manufacturing, yes, but assembly makes no sense,' he added.
He also touched upon Singapore's vulnerability to global economic swings.
'The Singapore economy doesn't stand still but we are at the mercy of the global economy. So if the US and Europe slow down, we will slow down. What can we do? We are not a customer. We are basically an exporter,' he noted.
On the health of the manufacturing sector, Mr Yeo said it is good that the industry is now diversified and balanced among four main sectors: electronics, chemicals, pharmaceuticals and marine engineering.
In the 1986, when he first helmed the Economic Development Board, about 90 per cent of the industry was made up of the electronics sector, he noted.
No stranger to controversy, the public service veteran also spoke frankly of the initial opposition from a government agency, when he first embarked on the Jurong Island project. The project eventually went ahead after he requested a change in the agency's leadership, Mr Yeo said.
'So the key is that if you want to do anything, be prepared to take the opposition and roll over them. The key is just to do your job, what you think is right, whether there's opposition or not. There's no personal animosity,' he added.
Mr Yeo also gamely took on the housing issue when asked if rising prices meant Singapore was still a liveable city.
'My view is that all these problems can be solved, whether it's transport or housing. It can be done very quickly, we have the means, we have the financials... so it's no big deal.'
