Speech by Minister for Transport, Mr Chee Hong Tat, for Real Estate Developers’ Association of Singapore (REDAS) Mid-Autumn Lunch

Patrons of REDAS,

Mr Tan Swee Yiow, President of REDAS,

Distinguished Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen.

Introduction

1.     Good afternoon and a very happy Mid-Autumn Festival to everyone. 祝大家中秋节快乐，阖家安康，生意兴隆！I am delighted to join you for today’s gathering, which has been a long held tradition for REDAS and its members. This festival also brings together many partners from the public and private sectors to celebrate the spirit of collaboration, and our shared vision of building a better future for Singapore.

Importance of REDAS to Singapore’s Economy

2.     Since its founding in 1959, REDAS has been a key partner in shaping Singapore’s nation-building journey, playing a key role in the development of our real estate industry. REDAS members have made important contributions to the economic development and growth of Singapore. The development of our city is not just about constructing buildings and infrastructure, but about connecting people and places, and creating spaces where Singaporeans live, work, and play. It is about enhancing our living environment and improving lives.  

3.     Since the early days of planning our city, transport and land-use planning have been deeply integrated. In particular, Singapore’s transport network plays a vital role in making our urban spaces accessible and vibrant, enhancing the quality of life for our people. 

Working with Industry to Review Rules

4.     The future of transportation is evolving rapidly, and it is critical for us to rethink how we plan and design our spaces to adapt to these changes. When embracing new trends and technologies, it is important that we examine our current rules and work processes to identify areas for improvement.

5.     By reviewing existing rules and streamlining our procedures, we can better support the seamless integration of new technologies and encourage future innovations. This is important in land-scarce Singapore, where we manage the use of our urban spaces carefully while unlocking value and maximising the potential of our land.

6.     The government and industry must work collaboratively to achieve these objectives. By engaging with industry stakeholders, regulators can better understand the challenges faced by our companies and developers and adjust our rules accordingly, to create a pro-business environment.

7.     By simplifying regulatory processes and reducing red tape, we can help our companies to focus their resources on innovation and to better translate their ideas into business outcomes.

8.     The former Prime Minister of the UK, Mr Winston Churchill, once said :“We shape our buildings;  thereafter they shape us”. The same is true for rules. We shape our rules and processes, and thereafter they shape us, because rules can affect the way we operate and the way we think. Rules can also affect the way we achieve our outcomes.

Streamlining Road & Building Works Approvals

9.     This was my motivation for starting the Transport Infrastructure Collaboration Panel, or TICP, together with LTA colleagues and industry partners in March 2021. It brings together regulators and industry leaders to discuss cross-cutting, high-impact issues, and to see how we can drive pro-enterprise initiatives. Please allow me to highlight some key initiatives led by TICP that demonstrate our shared commitment to this collaborative approach.

Streamlining of Road Handover Processes

10.    One positive outcome of the TICP has been to streamline the handing over of road infrastructure. Previously, new streets constructed by private developers underwent a process that stretched more than eight months after the defect liability period, before it could be handed over to LTA.  This had frequently been cited by the industry as a pain point. Since June 2022, LTA has restructured its process to eliminate steps such as the joint site inspections of common road facilities and facilitate concurrent steps to save time for developers. I am glad that developers can now handover completed roads to LTA earlier, as fast as within a month after the defect liability period, down from the 8 months previously. If there are ways we can work together to further shorten the timeline, my colleagues and I will be happy to hear your feedback and ideas.   

Road Design Templates

11.    Over the past year, the TICP has been working on new initiatives to benefit the industry. For example, LTA currently receives a number of road layout submissions that do not contain the required road design details or do not comply with the guidelines. LTA will need to go back to the applicants and ask them to resubmit the details, and then do its best to expedite the approvals. 

12.    Most of these submissions today are cleared within 3 rounds, but we should ask ourselves if we really need 3 rounds or can we improve the process and settle the applications in just one or 2 rounds? For more complicated cases, the process can take many more rounds due to the need to go back and forth with the industry professionals to revise the plans. It is a lose-lose and unproductive process for everyone.

13.    To address this, LTA is developing a set of road design templates which establishes the guidelines and required details to be presented for road layout submissions. These templates will serve as a reference that provides clear regulatory guidance upfront, which still leaving room for developers to be creative in the design process.

14.    With these templates, we aim to streamline the design process, reduce the number of iterative revisions, and ensure consistency with regulatory requirements. With the industry’s support and partnership, I am confident we can significantly cut down the time and costs for industry players, and we can have a simpler, better and faster process for everyone. This would also allow LTA to shorten the process for more complicated cases by several months. LTA is aiming to release the template by November this year.

CORENET X

15.    Beyond road layout approvals, LTA, is also part of the inter-agency effort led by BCA and URA, in collaboration with the built environment sector, to develop CORENET X, a digital platform that will transform the regulatory approval process for building works. We have streamlined the current process, by reducing the touchpoints from more than 20 across seven regulatory agencies, into three key submission gateways.

16.    Project teams will be able to make coordinated plan submissions and agencies will jointly review these submissions and issue a coordinated response. This reduces the need for Qualified Persons to liaise with multiple agencies individually.

 17.    In addition, by coordinating project submissions upfront, potential design conflicts can be detected and resolved earlier. This reduces the occurrence of costly abortive works downstream.  CORENET X has been open for voluntary submission since June this year, and agencies will continue to work with the built environment sector to fully implement it over the next few years.

Leveraging technology to enhance service delivery and review rules

18.    Our agencies are also monitoring technological advancements closely and leveraging technology to enhance service delivery and review our rules.

AI Chatbot

19.    One focus is the use of artificial intelligence. Today, LTA publishes regulatory requirements on their website. Developers and appointed contractors have shared that they require a large amount of time to trawl through these publications to verify requirements that are relevant to their different development proposals. Very “siong” and not very efficient.

20.    With AI, we can better support the industry to save time and improve productivity. LTA is developing an AI chatbot with the knowledge of LTA’s regulations across different types of proposals. The intent is for the chatbot to be able to provide tailored advice to industry professionals as they develop their proposals. The effectiveness of this AI chatbot will be enhanced when industry partners provide examples for LTA to ‘train the chatbot’, so please work with us and help us so that we can help you. Give us more examples, more proposals that we can use to train the Chatbot. LTA will be engaging the industry through TICP to bring more partners on board the pilot in the next few months. As with all other AI tools, as we go through the process, and have more data points and examples, the chatbot will get better and better. So this is our aim - to make it a useful reference guide, useful tool, to help our industry professionals and our companies.

Installing Solar Panels Around Airport Vicinity

21.    Technological advancements also allow us to refresh our safety and risk assessments regularly and avoid imposing unnecessary requirements.

22.    In the past, due to concerns of glare from solar panels affecting the pilots’ and air traffic controllers’ visibility, companies looking to install solar panels within critical areas close to our airports have to apply to the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore or CAAS for approval.  Any solar panel installations around the airport must be assessed and approved by CAAS, to ensure that there are no safety risks to our pilots or air traffic control officers. This process could take two months to complete and costs around $3500 for a consultant’s assessment report.

23.    CAAS has since reviewed its requirements. Due to improvements in solar photovoltaic technology (PV), newer panels have reduced glare, and panels installed within critical areas close to our airports are assessed to have minimal risk to airport operations. I am glad to announce that from 1st October this year, there will be no need to seek CAAS’s approval for such installations.

24.    With this change, installations of solar panels outside airport boundaries will no longer require consultant reports or applications to CAAS, and we hope this can result in in time and cost savings for businesses and building owners.

Conclusion

25.    Colleagues, partners and friends, I have shared some examples of our rules review exercise, which is an on-going process for continuous improvement. Within the Government, PM has asked DPM Gan to lead this rules review process, and I am proud to be a member of this committee, together with my colleagues, under the leadership of DPM Gan. So what I shared with you are just some examples of what we have done with your feedback and support. I believe this process, if we continue, can allow us to discover more areas for improvement, to find out more pain points that we need to address, and to seek out better rules and processes that we can put in place. This is important because we are not dealing with a static situation – we are dealing with a dynamic situation where there are changes in business models, there are changes in technology, there are changes in our operating environment. Therefore, we must ensure that our rules and our processes stay nimble, flexible and adaptable, so that we are able to move with the times. Like what the Chinese will say, “与时并进”. Otherwise, our rules, over time, will become outdated, and may no longer fit well with what we need for now. This process can only be done if we work closely together with our tripartite partners, our businesses, our unions. This partnership and collaboration between Government and our partners can allow us to get a better understanding of where are the areas for improvement, because businesses will have first-hand knowledge. You are dealing with these issues day to day, you are closer to the front line of where some of these issues are causing problems. So, if you share your feedback with us, we will have a better and more accurate understanding of the areas for improvement and introduce levers to change the rules and improve the processes. I see this as a win-win partnership between the government and our partners.

26.    Each rule review may seem small on its own, but collectively, these changes contribute to a broader business-friendly environment and reinforce the importance for government agencies and officials to adopt a pro-business mindset. They also strengthen the spirit of collaboration and allow us to continuously refine our approach, ensuring that our regulatory framework remains agile, supportive, and aligned with industry needs, both now and in the future. 

27.    I would like to end off my speech by wishing everyone good health, prosperity and the joyous celebration with your loved ones. 祝各位朋友：花好月圆 人团圆；家顺业兴，万事兴。Heng, Ong, Huat Ah!

28.    Thank you.