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The Indian Institute of Planning

& Management ( New Delhi )

SINGAPORE

( 11th

Sep – 17th

Sep )

Faculties:

Priyanka Sharma

Sandeep Singh

Students:

1. Mohammad Razick

SS- 11/13

[email protected]

9873333587

Sec: SB 3

2. Sabiya Chauhan

SS- 11/13

[email protected]

8287247108

Sec: SB 2

3. Varsha Goyal

SS- 11/13

[email protected]

9827741022

Sec: SB 2

4. Vijay Moorthy

SS- 11/13

[email protected]

9999462397

Sec: SB 2

mailto:[email protected]












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Table of contents

PEST Analysis

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Politics of Singapore

The politics of Singapore takes the form of a parliamentary representative

democratic republic whereby the President of Singapore is the head of state, the Prime Minister

of Singapore is the head of government, and of a multi-party system. Executive power is

exercised by the cabinet. Cabinet has the general direction and control of the Government and is

collectively responsible to Parliament. Like many countries in the world today, there are three

separate branches of government: the legislature, executive and judiciary, though not necessarily

meaning that there is a separation of power.

Legislative power is vested in both the government and the Parliament of Singapore.

The legislature is the parliament, which consists of the president as its head and a single chamber

whose members are elected by popular vote. The role of the president as the head of state has

been, historically, largely ceremonial although the constitution was amended in 1991 to give the

president some veto powers in a few key decisions such as the use of the national reserves and

the appointment of key judiciary, Civil Service and Singapore Armed Forces posts. He also

exercises powers over civil service appointments and internal security matters.

Political climate

Although dominant in its activities, the government has a clean, corruption-free image.Singapore has consistently been rated as the least-corrupt country in Asia and amongst the topten cleanest in the world by Transparency International. The World Bank's governance

indicators have also rated Singapore highly on rule of law, control of corruption and governmenteffectiveness

Amnesty International has criticised Singapore for having "possibly the highest execution rate inthe world" per capita. The Singapore Government responded by asserting it had the right as asovereign state to impose the death penalty for serious offences.

Legislative process

Before any law is passed, it is first introduced in parliament as a draft known as a bill. Bills areusually introduced by a minister on behalf of the cabinet, known as Government Bill. However,any member of parliament can introduce a bill, known as a Private Member's Bill. All bills mustgo through three readings in parliament and receive the president's assent to become an Act of

Parliament.

Each bill goes through several stages before it becomes a law. The first stage is a mere formalityknown as the first reading, where it is introduced without a debate. This is followed bythe second reading, where members of parliament debate on the general principles of the bill. If parliament opposes the bill, it may vote to reject the bill.

If the bill goes through the second reading, the bill is sent to a Select Committee where everyclause in the bill is examined. Members of parliament who support the bill in principle but do not

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Representative_democracy




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agree with certain clauses can propose amendments to those clauses at this stage. Following itsreport back to parliament, the bill will go through its third reading where only minoramendments will be allowed before it is passed.

Most bills passed by parliament are scrutinized by the Presidential Council for MinorityRights which makes a report to the Speaker of Parliament stating whether there are clauses in a

bill which affects any racial or religious community. If approved by the council, the bill will be presented for the president's assent.

The last stage involves the granting of assent by the president, before the bill officially becomesa law.

Constitution

The Constitution of Singapore is the supreme law of Singapore and it is a codified constitution.

The constitution cannot be amended without the support of more than two-thirds of the membersof parliament on the second and third readings. The president may seek opinion on constitutional

issues from a tribunal consisting of not less than three judges of the Supreme Court. Singaporeancourts, like the courts in Australia, cannot offer advisory opinion on the constitutionality of laws.

Part IV of the constitution guarantees the following:

1. liberty of a person (limited).

2. prohibition of slavery and forced labour

3. protection against retrospective criminal laws and repeated trials

4. equal protection

5. prohibition of banishment and freedom of movement

6. freedom of speech, assembly and association (limited)

7. freedom of religion (limited).8. right to education

Elections and political parties

For other political parties see List of political parties in Singapore. An overview on elections

and election results is included in Elections in Singapore.

Voting has been compulsory in Singapore since 1959 and there is universal suffrage. The legalvoting age is 21. The Elections Department of Singapore is responsible for the planning, preparation and conduct of presidential and parliamentary elections and of any national

referendum in Singapore. It is a department under the Prime Minister's Office.Paper ballots are still used in Singapore. However, there is a concern that voting secrecy might be compromised as ballot papers have serial numbers on them. As stated in the ElectionsDepartment website:

"...ballot papers can be examined only under strict conditions, and there are safeguards that

make it extremely difficult to find out how any particular voter voted. After the count, all ballot papers and their counterfoils have to be sealed in the Supreme Court vault for six months, after

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which all the ballot papers and other election documents are destroyed. During those six months,

these documents can only be retrieved by court order. The court will issue such an order only if

it is satisfied that a vote has been fraudulently cast and the result of the election may be affected

as a result. Our courts have issued no such order since elections have been held here since1948."

Economy of Singapore

Singapore has a highly developed trade-oriented market economy. Singapore's economy has

been ranked as the most open in the world, least corrupt, most pro-business, with low tax rates

(14.2% of GDP) and one of the highest per-capita gross domestic products in the world.

Singapore's sovereign wealth fund, Temasek Holdings, holds majority stakes in several of the

nation's largest companies, such as Singapore Airlines, SingTel, ST Engineering and MediaCorp.

The economy of Singapore is a major Foreign Direct Investment outflow financier in the world,

and the economy of Singapore has benefited from the inward of Foreign Direct Investment from

the global investments due to Singapore's attractive investment climates.

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Exports, particularly in electronics, chemicals and services including the posture that Singapore

is the regional hub for wealth management (and the opening of the city state's first casino in

2010) provide the main source of revenue for the economy, which allows it to purchase natural

resources and raw goods which it does not have. Moreover, water is a scarcity in

Singapore therefore water is defined as a precious resource in Singapore along with the scarcity

of land to be treated with land fill of Pulau Semakau. Singapore has limited arable land that

Singapore has to rely on the agro technology park for agricultural production and

consumption. Human Resource is another vital issue for the health of Singaporean economy.

Singapore could thus be said to rely on an extended concept of intermediary trade

to Entrepôt trade, by purchasing raw goods and refining them for re-export, such as in the wafer

fabrication industry and oil refining. Singapore also has a strategic port which makes it more

competitive than many of its neighbours in carrying out such entrepot activities. Singapore has

the highest trade to GDP ratio in the world, averaging around 400% during 2008-11. The Port ofSingapore is the second-busiest in the world by cargo tonnage.

In addition, Singapore's port infrastructure and skilled workforce, which is due to the success of

the country's education policy in producing skilled workers, is also fundamental in this aspect as

they provide easier access to markets for both importing and exporting, and also provide the

skill(s) needed to refine imports into exports.

Singapore's government promotes high levels of savings and investment through policies such as

the Central Provident Fund, which is used to fund its citizen's healthcare and retirement needs.

Singapore's savings rates have remained among the highest in the world since the 1970s.

Economic history

This is a chart of trend of gross domestic product of Singapore at market prices estimated by the

International Monetary Fund.

YearGross Domestic

Product($ millions)

US Dollar Exchange Nominal Per Capita

GDP(as % of USA)

PPP Per CapitaGDP

(as % of USA)

1980 25,1172.14 Singapore

Dollars39.65 55.00

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1985 39,0362.20 Singapore

Dollars36.63 63.41

1990 66,778 1.81 SingaporeDollars

52.09 74.76

1995 119,4701.41 Singapore

Dollars86.14 90.60

2000 159,8401.72 Singapore

Dollars66.19 91.48

2005 194,3601.64 Singapore

Dollars67.54 103.03

2007 224,4121.42 Singapore

Dollars74.61 107.92

2008 235,6321.37 Singapore

Dollars73.71 107.27

2009 268,9001.50 Singapore

Dollars78.53 108.33

2010 309,4001.32 Singapore

Dollars82.13 119.54

2011 270,020 1.29 SingaporeDollars - -

Upon separation from Malaysia in 1965, Singapore was faced with a lack of natural resources, a

small domestic market, and high levels of unemployment and poverty. 70 percent of Singapore’s

households lived in badly overcrowded conditions, and a third of its people squatted in slums on

the city fringes. Unemployment averaged 14 percent, GDP per capita was less than $2,700, and

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half of the population was illiterate. In response, the Singapore Government adopted a pro-

worker, pro-business, pro-foreign investment, export-oriented economic policy. At first the

government rejected free market orthodoxy and made massive government interventions into the

economy, however after discovering that letting markets equilibrate on their own lead to greater

growth they decided to adopt their current meritocratic capitalist model. Nevertheless, they

continue to maintain strict unwavering investments in housing and education to produce a skilled

and educated populace.

Living standards steadily rose, with more families moving from a lower-income status to

middle-income security with increased household incomes. During a National Day Rally speech

in 1987, Lee Kuan-Yew claimed that (based on the home ownership criterion) 80% of

Singaporeans could now be considered to be members of the middle-class. However, much

unlike the economic policies of Greece and the rest of Europe, Singapore followed a policy of

individualizing the social safety net. This lead to higher than average savings rate and a verysustainable economy on the long run. Without a burdensome welfare state or its likeliness,

Singapore has developed a very self-reliant and skilled workforce well versed for a global

economy.

Singapore's economic strategy produced real growth averaging 8.0% from 1960 to 1999. The

economy picked up in 1999 after the regional financial crisis, with a growth rate of 5.4%,

followed by 9.9% for 2000. However, the economic slowdown in the United States, Japan and

the European Union, as well as the worldwide electronics slump, had reduced the estimated

economic growth in 2001 to a negative 2.0%. The economy expanded by 2.2% the followingyear, and by 1.1% in 2003 when Singapore was affected by the SARS outbreak. Subsequently, a

major turnaround occurred in 2004 allowed it to make a significant recovery of 8.3% growth in

Singapore, although the actual growth fell short of the target growth for the year more than half

with only 2.5%. In 2005, economic growth was 6.4%; and in 2006, 7.9%.

As of 8 June 2013, Singapore's unemployment rate is around 1.9% and the country's economy

has a lowered growth rate, with a rate of 1.8% on a quarter-by-quarter basis — compared to

14.8% in 2010.

Sector’s

Manufacturing and financial business services accounted for 26% and 22%, respectively, of

Singapore's gross domestic product in 2000. The electronics industry leads Singapore's

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manufacturing sector, accounting for 48% of total industrial output, but the government also is

prioritising development of the chemicals and biotechnology industries.

To maintain its competitive position despite rising wages, the government seeks to promote

higher value-added activities in the manufacturing and services sectors. It also has opened, or is

in the process of opening, the financial services, telecommunications, and power generation and

retailing sectors up to foreign service providers and greater competition.

Banking

Singapore is considered a global financial hub, with Singapore banks offering world-class

corporate bank account facilities. These include multiple currencies, internet banking, telephone

banking, checking accounts, savings accounts, debit and credit cards, fixed term deposits and

wealth management services. According to the Human Rights Watch, due to its role as a

financial hub for the region, Singapore has continually been criticized for reportedly hosting

bank accounts containing ill-gotten gains of corrupt leaders and their associates, including

billions of dollars of Burma’s state gas revenues hidden from national accounts.

Biotechnology

Singapore is aggressively promoting and developing its biotechnology industry. Hundred of

millions of dollars were invested into the sector to build up infrastructure, fund research and

development and to recruit top international scientists to Singapore. Leading drug makers, such

as GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), Pfizer and Merck & Co., have set up plants in Singapore. On 8 June

2006, GSK announced that it is investing another S$300 million to build another plant to produce pediatric vaccines, its first such facility in Asia.

Energy and infrastructure

Singapore is the pricing centre and leading oil trading hub in Asia. The oil industry makes up 5

per cent of Singapore's GDP, with Singapore being one of the top three export refining centers in

the world. In 2007 it exported 68.1 million tons of oil. The oil industry has led to the promotion

of the chemical industry as well as oil and gas equipment manufacturing. It has 20 per cent of

the world market for ship repair, and in 2008 the marine and offshore industry employed almost

70,000 workers.

Trade, investment and aid

Singapore's total trade in 2000 amounted to S$373 billion, an increase of 21% from 1999.

Despite its small size, Singapore is currently the fifteenth-largest trading partner of the United

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States. In 2000, Singapore's imports totaled $135 billion, and exports totaled $138 billion.

Malaysia was Singapore's main import source, as well as its largest export market, absorbing

18% of Singapore's exports, with the United States close behind.

Singapore's principal exports are petroleum products, food/beverages, chemicals,

textile/garments, electronic components, telecommunication apparatus, and transport equipment.

Singapore's main imports are aircraft, crude oil and petroleum products, electronic components,

radio and television receivers/parts, motor vehicles, chemicals, food/beverages, iron/steel, and

textile yarns/fabrics.

According to Healy Consultants, Singapore has free trade access to the entirety of the ASEAN

network, with import duty reduced when dealing with Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines,

Thailand, Brunei, Burma, Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam.

The Singapore Economic Development Board (EDB) continues to attract investment funds on a

large-scale for the country despite the city's relatively high-cost operating environment. The U.S.

leads in foreign investment, accounting for 40% of new commitments to the manufacturing

sector in 2000. As of 1999, cumulative investment for manufacturing and services by American

companies in Singapore reached approximately $20 billion (total assets). The bulk of U.S.

investment is in electronics manufacturing, oil refining and storage, and the chemical industry.

More than 1,500 U.S. firms operate in Singapore.

Singapore's largely corruption-free government, skilled workforce, and advanced and efficientinfrastructure have attracted investments from more than 3,000 multinational

corporations (MNCs) from the United States, Japan, and Europe. Foreign firms are found in

almost all sectors of the economy. MNCs account for more than two thirds of manufacturing

output and direct export sales, although certain services sectors remain dominated by

government-linked corporations.

The government also has encouraged firms to invest outside Singapore, with the country's total

direct investments abroad reaching $39 billion by the end of 1998. The People's Republic of

China was the top destination, accounting for 14% of total overseas investments, followed by Malaysia (10%), Hong Kong (8.9%), Indonesia (8.0%) and U.S. (4.0%).

The United States provides no bilateral to Singapore, but the U.S. appears keen to improve

bilateral trade and signed the U.S.-Singapore Free Trade Agreement. Singapore corporate tax is

17 per cent.

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Year Total trade Imports Exports % Change

2000 $273 $135 $138 21%

2001 -9.4%

2002 $432 1.5%

2003 $516 $237 $279 9.6%

2004 $629 $293 $336 21.9%

2005 $716 $333 $383 14%

2006 $810 $379 $431 13.2%

All figures in billions of Singapore dollars.

International trade agreements

Economy Agreement Abbreviation Concluded Signed EffectiveLegal

text

New

Zealand

Agreement between NewZealand and

Singapore on aCloser EconomicPartnership

ANZSCEP

18 August

2000

14

November2000

1 January

2001 [1]

EuropeanFree Trade

Agreement between the EFTAStates and

EFTA-Singapore FTA

11 April2002

26 June2002

1 January2003

[2]

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text

Association Singapore

Japan

Agreement between Japan andthe Republic ofSingapore for a New-AgeEconomicPartnership

JSEPA October 2001 13 Ja [3]

UnitedStates

United States-Singapore FreeTrade Agreement

USSFTA19 November2002

6 May2003

1 January2004

[4]

JordanSingapore JordanFree TradeAgreement

SJFTA29 April2004

16 May2004

[5]

Brunei

Trans-PacificStrategicEconomicPartnershipAgreement

Trans-PacificSEP

August2005

1 January2006

[6]Chile18 July2005

NewZealand

18 July2005

India

India - SingaporeComprehensiveEconomicCooperationAgreement

India-SingaporeCECA

November2004

29 June2005

1 August2005

[7]

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text

KoreaKorea-SingaporeFree TradeAgreement

KSFTA28 November2004

4 August2005

End 2005 [8]

PeruPeru-SingaporeFree TradeAgreement

PesFTASeptember2007

29 May2008

Early 2009

Singapore workforce

In 2000, Singapore had a workforce of about 2.2 million. The country has the largest proficiency

of English language speakers in Asia, making it an attractive place for multinational

corporations. The National Trades Union Congress (NTUC), the sole trade union federation

which has a symbiotic relationship with the ruling party, comprises almost 99% of total

organized labour. Government policy and pro-activity rather than labour legislation controls

general labour and trade union matters. The Employment Act offers little protection to white-

collar workers due to an income threshold.

The Industrial Arbitration Court handles labour-management disputes that cannot be resolved

informally through the Ministry of Manpower. The Singapore Government has stressed the

importance of cooperation between unions, management and government (tripartism), as well as

the early resolution of disputes. There has been only one strike in the past 15 years.

Singapore has enjoyed virtually full employment for long periods of time. Amid an economic

slump, the unemployment rate rose to 4.0% by the end of 2001, from 2.4% early in the year.

Unemployment has since declined and as of 2012 the unemployment rate stands at 1.9%.

The Singapore Government and the NTUC have tried a range of programs to increase lagging productivity and boost the labour force participation rates of women and older workers.

However, labor shortages persist in the service sector and in many low-skilled positions in the

construction and electronics industries. Foreign workers help make up this shortfall. In 2000,

there were about 600,000 foreign workers in Singapore, constituting 27% of the total work force.

As a result, wages are relatively suppressed or do not rise for all workers. In order to have some

controls, the government imposes a foreign worker levy payable by employers for low end

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workers like domestic help and construction workers. The Government recognizes that the

current overall foreign workforce should complement the local resident workforce and not

replace the Singaporean Core concept, and helps companies greatly as they raise productivity

through business restructuring and workforce retraining; raise resident labour force participation

rate.

Public finance

Government spending in Singapore has risen since the start of the global financial crisis, from

around 15% of GDP in 2008 to 17% in 2012. The government's total expenditure as a percentage

of GDP ranks among the lowest internationally and allows for a competitive tax

regime. Personal income taxes in Singapore range from 0% to 20% for incomes above

S$320,000. There are no capital gains or inheritance taxes in Singapore. Singapore's corporatetax rate is 17% with exemptions and incentives for smaller businesses. Singapore has a single-

tier corporate income tax system, which means there is no double-taxation for shareholders.

Singapore introduced Goods and Services Tax (GST) with an initial rate of 3% on 1 April 1994,

increasing government's revenue by S$1.6 billion (US$1b, €800m) and establishing government

finances. The taxable GST was increased to 4% in 2003, to 5% in 2004, and to 7% in 2007.

Some Facts:

Percentage of economic growth in Year 2007: 7.4%

Industrial production growth rate: 6.8% (2007 est.)

Electricity - production: 41.137.7 billion kWh (2007)

Electricity - production by source:

fossil f uel: 100%

hydro : 0%

nuclear: 0%

other: 0% (1998)

Electricity - consumption: 37.420.3 billion kWh (2007)

Electricity - exports: 0 kWh (2007)

Electricity - imports: 0 kWh (2007)

Agriculture - products: rubber, copra, fruit, vegetables; poultry, eggs, fish, orchids, ornamental

fish

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Currency: 1 Singapore dollar (S$ or SGD) = 100 cents

Exchange rates:

Year Singapore Dollars per US$1

1981 2.0530

1985 2.1213

1990 1.7275

1995 1.4148

2000 1.7361

2005 1.6738

2008 (April) 1.3643

2009 (March) 1.5123

2010 1.2844

2011 (May) 1.2336

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Culture

The country has strict laws against drug use and has one of the lowest rates of drug use in theworld.

Foreigners also make up 42% of the population and have a strong influence on Singaporean

culture. A.T. Kearney named Singapore the most globalised country in the world in 2006 inits Globalization Index. The Economist Intelligence Unit in its "Quality-of-Life Index" ranksSingapore as having the best quality of life in Asia and eleventh overall in the world.

Languages, religions, and cultures

Singapore is a very diverse and young country. It has many languages, religions, and cultures fora country its size. Due to the many languages and cultures in the country, there is no single set ofculturally acceptable behaviors.

When Singapore became independent from the United Kingdom in 1963, most of the newlyminted Singaporean citizens were uneducated laborers from Malaysia, China and India. Many ofthem were transient laborers who were seeking to make some money in Singapore and they had

no intention of staying for good. A sizeable minority of middle-class, local-born people, knownas the Peranakans, also existed. With the exception of the Peranakans (descendants of late 15thand 16th-century Chinese immigrants) who pledged their loyalties to Singapore, most of thelabourers' loyalties lay with their respective homelands of Malaysia, China and India. Afterindependence, the process of crafting a Singaporean identity and culture began.

Former Prime Ministers of Singapore Lee Kuan Yew and Goh Chok Tong have stated thatSingapore does not fit the traditional description of a nation, calling it a society-in-transition, pointing out the fact that Singaporeans do not all speak the same language, share the samereligion, or have the same customs. Even though English is the first language of the nation,according to the government's 2010 census 20% of Singaporeans, or one in five, are illiterate in

English. This is a marked improvement from 1990 where 40% of Singaporeans were illiterate inEnglish.

Unlike many other countries, languages, religions and cultures among Singaporeans are notdelineated according to skin colour or ancestry. Among Chinese Singaporeans, one in fiveis Christian, another one in five is atheist, and the rest are mostly Buddhists or Taoists. One-thirdspeak English as their home language, while half speak Mandarin Chinese as their homelanguage. The rest speak other mutually unintelligible Chinese languages at home. SingaporeanIndians are much more religious. Only 1% of them are atheists. Six in ten are Hindus, two in tenMuslims, and the rest mostly Christians. Four in ten speak English as their home language, threein ten Tamil, one in ten Malay, and the rest other Indian languages as their home language.

Each Singaporean's behaviours and attitudes would therefore be influenced by, among manyother things, his or her home language and his religion. Singaporeans who speak English as theirnative language tend to lean toward Western culture. While those who speak Chinese languagesas their native language tend to lean toward Chinese culture and Confucianism. Malay-speakingSingaporeans tend to lean toward Malay culture, which itself is closely linked to Islamic culture.Those who speak Indian languages as their native language would probably lean toward Indianculture.

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Sports

Popular sports include football, basketball, cricket, swimming, sailing, table tennis and badminton. Most Singaporeans live in public residential areas near amenities such as publicswimming pools, outdoor basketball courts and indoor sport complexes.

Water sports are popular, including sailing, kayaking and water skiing. Scuba diving is another popular recreational sport.

Singapore began hosting a round of the Formula One World Championship, the Singapore GrandPrix, in 2008. The race takes place on the Marina Bay Street Circuit and was the inaugural F1night race and the first street circuit in Asia. The Singapore Grand Prix will remain on the F1calendar through at least 2017, after race organizers signed a contract extension with FormulaOne Management on the eve of the 2012 event.

Kranji Racecourse is run by the Singapore Turf Club and hosts multiple weekly meetings andmany important local and international races, notably the prestigious Singapore AirlinesInternational Cup.

Science and Technology

The Internet in Singapore is provided by ISPs that offer residential service plans of speeds up to1 Gbit/s. In Singapore, the rise of Gigabit Networks increased exports and created 80,000 jobs in2006.

Telecommunications in Singapore include 4G mobile phone services for over 6 millionsubscribers.

Education

Education for primary, secondary, and tertiary levels is mostly supported by the state. Allinstitutions, private and public, must be registered with the Ministry of Education. English is thelanguage of instruction in all public schools, and all subjects are taught and examined in Englishexcept for the "Mother Tongue" language paper. While the term "Mother Tongue" in generalrefers to the first language internationally, in Singapore's education system, it is used to refer tothe second language, as English is the first language. Students who have been abroad for a whileor who struggle with their "Mother Tongue" language are allowed to take a simpler syllabus ordrop the subject.

Education takes place in three stages: primary, secondary, and pre-university education. Only the primary level is compulsory. Students begin with six years of primary school, which is made upof a four-year foundation course and a two-year orientation stage. The curriculum is focused onthe development of English, the mother tongue, and maths. There are four standard subjectstaught to all students: English, the mother tongue, mathematics, and science. Secondary schoollasts from four to five years and is divided between Special, Express, Normal (Academic), and Normal (Technical) streams in each school, depending on a student's ability level. The basiccoursework breakdown is the same as in the primary level, although classes are much more

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specialised. Pre-university education takes place over two to three years at senior schools mostlycalled Junior Colleges.

Some schools have a degree of freedom in their curriculum and are known as autonomousschools. These exist from the secondary education level.

National examinations are standardised across all schools, with a test taken after each stage.After the first six years of education, students take the Primary School LeavingExamination, which determines their placement at secondary school. At the end of the secondarystage, GCE "O"-Level exams are taken; at the end of the following pre-university stage, the GCE"A"-Level exams are taken. Of all non-student Singaporeans aged 15 and above, 18% have noeducation qualifications at all while 45% have the Primary School Leaving Examination as theirhighest qualification. 15% have the GCE 'O' Level as their highest qualification and 14% have adegree.

Singaporean students consistently rank in the top five in the world in the two major internationalassessments of mathematics and science knowledge. Singaporean students were ranked first inthe 2011 Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study conducted by the InternationalAssociation for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement and have been ranked top threeevery year since 1995. Singaporean students were also ranked top five in the world in terms ofmathematics, science, and reading in the 2009 Programme for International StudentAssessment conducted by the OECD. The country's two main public universities — the NationalUniversity of Singapore and Nanyang Technological University — are among the top 50 in theworld.

STEEL Industry of Singapore

Steel in Singapore industry profile provides top-line qualitative and quantitative summaryinformation including: market size (value 2007-11, and forecast to 2016). The profile alsocontains descriptions of the leading players including key financial metrics and analysis ofcompetitive pressures within the market. Essential resource for top-line data and analysiscovering the Singapore steel market. Includes market size data, textual and graphical analysis ofmarket growth trends, leading companies and macroeconomic information.

Highlights

The steel market consists of the production of crude steel in the stated country or region. The Singaporean steel market had total revenues of $595.8 million in 2011, representing

a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 13.2% between 2007 and 2011. Market production volumes increased with a CAGR of 3.9% between 2007-2011, to

reach a total of 744.5 thousand metric tons in 2011.

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The performance of the market is forecast to decelerate, with an anticipated CAGR of8.3% for the five-year period 2011 - 2016, which is expected to drive the market to avalue of $866.3 million by the end of 2016.

It is part of the government’s three-year-old policy to restructure the Singaporean economy andwean it off its dependency on low-skilled, low-wage immigrants — who have become politicallyunpopular — and improve productivity. As well as increases in the levy, businesses have beenmade to cut the ratio of foreign workers to local hires.

But companies are passing on the extra labour costs to consumers, fuelling an inflation rate thatis one of the region’s highest. Meanwhile, rising costs make exports less competitive, especiallywith low-wage economies such as Vietnam snapping up business. Ms Seah wants to export toIndonesia, but she will be hit by the strong Singapore dollar, priced to reflect the boomingservices economy.

The government is supporting the transition to its new higher-productivity economy with

schemes such as the ―productivity and innovation credit‖. With it, Ms Seah recently bought aGerman machine that can stamp out an aluminium number plate in two minutes, rather than thehour that it took previously. She was able to claim back 60% of the S$8,000 it cost. The schemewas extended in the most recent budget. The government also helps with technical know-howand training. It is nurturing potentially more profitable manufacturing industries, like biomedicalengineering that makes scanners and other advanced diagnostic tools.

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NEWATER

NEWater is the brand name given to reclaimed water produced by Singapore's Public Utilities

Board. More specifically, it is treated wastewater (sewage) that has been purified using dual-membrane (via microfiltration and reverse osmosis) and ultraviolet technologies, in addition to

conventional water treatment processes. The water is potable and can be consumed by humans,

but is mostly used for industry requiring high purity water.

History

NEWater may sound like an overnight success for Singapore. But its evolution is a journey that

spanned 3 decades.

Singapore's first water masterplan was drawn up in 1972. In 1974, PUB built a pilot plant to turn

used water into potable water. This was the precursor of today's NEWater factories. But it was

ahead of its time. The costs were astronomical and the membranes were unreliable, so the idea

was shelved to await further technological advancement.

In 1998, the necessary technology had matured and driven production costs down. In May 2000,

the first NEWater plant was completed.

Now

Currently, there are 4 NEWater plants in Singapore. The latest and the largest NEWater plant at

Changi with a capacity of 50mgd was opened in May 2010. With this addition, coupled with the

expansion of the existing plants, NEWater now meets 30% of Singapor e’s total water demand.

By 2060, NEWater is projected to meet 50% of Singapore’s future water demand.

Production

Singapore has four operational NEWater factories, at Bedok, Kranji, Ulu Pandan and Changi.

Bedok and Kranji were commissioned in 2002, Ulu Pandan in March 2007 and the Changi plant

in August 2009. A plant at Seletar, commissioned in February 2004, is now closed.

The Bedok and Kranji plants are operated by the Public Utilities Board, while the Ulu Pandanand Changi plants are under DBOO concessions by Keppel Seghers and Sembcorp Industries.

There is a Visitor Centre in the NEWater factory in Bedok, near the Singapore Expo Tanah

Merah MRT Station. Admission is free.

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Process

NEWater is produced by a multiple barrier water reclamation process:

The first barrier is conventional wastewater treatment in the Water Reclamation Plants.

The second barrier, and first stage of the NEWater production process,uses microfiltration/ultra filtration to remove suspended solids, colloidal particles, disease-

causing bacteria, some viruses and protozoan cysts. The filtered water after passing through

the membrane contains only dissolved salts and organic molecules.

The third barrier, and second stage of the NEWater production process, uses reverse

osmosis (RO). A semi-permeable membrane filters out contaminants such as bacteria,

viruses, heavy metals, nitrates, chlorides, sulfates, disinfection by-products, aromatic

hydrocarbons, and pesticides. NEWater is thus free from viruses and bacteria and contains

very low levels of salts and organic matter. At this stage, the water is of potable quality.

The fourth barrier, and third stage of the NEWater production process, is a safety

precaution. UV disinfection is used to ensure that all organisms are inactivated and the purity

of the water can be guaranteed. After adding some alkaline chemicals to restore the pH

balance, NEWater is ready for use.

Applications

The total capacity of the plants is about 20 million US gallons per day (75,700 m3/day). Some

6% of this is used for indirect potable use, equal to about 1% of Singapore's potable water

requirement of 380 million US gallons per day (13 m

3

/s). The rest is used at waferfabrication plants and other non-potable applications in industries

in Woodlands, Tampines, Pasir Ris, and Ang Mo Kio.

Potability

The quality of NEWater consistently exceeds the requirements set

by USEPA and WHO guidelines and ironically is cleaner than Singapore's other water sources.

Plans are under way to increase the amount of NEWater in indirect potable use up to 3.5% by

2011.

NeWater is Reverse Osmosis Water

NEWater is high-grade reclaimed water produced from treated used water that is purified further

using advanced membrane technologies, making the water ultra-clean and safe to drink.

NEWater has passed more than 100,000 scientific tests and surpasses World Health Organization

requirements.

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The first stage of the NEWater production process is known as Microfiltration (MF). In this

process, the treated used water is passed through membranes to filter out and retained on the

membrane surface suspended solids, colloidal particles, disease-causing bacteria, some viruses

and protozoan cysts. The filtered water that goes through the membrane contains only dissolved

salts and organic molecules.

The second stage of the NEWater production process is known as Reverse Osmosis (RO). In RO,

a semi-permeable membrane is used. The semi-permeable membrane has very small pores which

only allow very small molecules like water molecules to pass through. Consequently, undesirable

contaminants such as bacteria, viruses, heavy metals, nitrate, chloride, sulphate, disinfection by-

products, aromatic hydrocarbons, pesticides etc, cannot pass through the membrane. Hence,

NEWater is RO water and is free from viruses, bacteria and contains negligible amount of salts

and organic matters.

At this stage, the water is already of a high grade water quality. The third stage of the NEWater

production process really acts as a further safety back-up to the RO. In this stage, ultraviolet orUV disinfection is used to ensure that all organisms are inactivated and the purity of the product

water guaranteed.

With the addition of some alkaline chemicals to restore the acid-alkali or pH balance, the

NEWater is now ready to be piped off to its wide range of applications.

In fact, RO is a widely recognised and established technology which has been used extensively

in many other areas. This includes the production of bottled drinking water and production of

ultra-clean water for the wafer fabrication and electronics industry. RO is also becoming

increasingly popular as one of the technologies used in desalination of seawater for humanconsumption. It is also used to recycle used water to drinking water on space shuttles and on

International Space Stations.

The NEWater Visitor Centre, which was opened in February 2003, is the focal point of PUB’s

public education on NEWater. The centre highlights the importance of water and how Singapore

leverages on advances in technology to reclaim water. Visitors are able to view firsthand the

operation of the advanced dual membrane and ultraviolet technologies used to produce

NEWater.

New Water from Wastewater in Singapore

Singapore is comprised of 63 small islands and has a natural, rainforest climate. In fact, nearly a

quarter of Singapore’s land area consists of forests and nature preserves, and the country

averages more than 90 inches of rainfall every year. However, despite what appears to be a

flourishing wet ecosystem, Singapore has faced persistent water shortages throughout its history.

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Faced with these water shortages, in 1974, Singapore began a program of water recycling – the

action of transforming wastewater into clean freshwater. However, its experimental treatment

plant was closed just a year later when cost and reliability issues proved too problematic to

overcome.

In 1998, the Public Utilities Board and the Ministry of the Environment and Water Resources inSingapore instituted a water reclamation study. Its aim was to determine whether recycled water

and desalination could be viable options to meet the country’s long-term water needs, and

whether they would help reduce Singapore’s reliance on imported water from Malaysia, a source

of friction over the years.

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CONCLUSION

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

www.google.com

www.pub.org

www.singaporepsa.com

www.newater.info

www.economysearch.com

www.ssss.org

www.marketresearch.com

www.worldsteel.org

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http://www.pub.org/

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http://www.singaporepsa.com/


http://www.newater.info/


http://www.economysearch.com/


http://www.ssss.org/


http://www.marketresearch.com/


http://www.worldsteel.org/








http://www.pub.org/


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