Mr Michael Teh
Chairman of Landscape Industry Association (Singapore)

Distinguished Guests

Ladies and Gentlemen,

       Good evening.  It is my pleasure to be here tonight at the 3rd Landscape Industry Association (Singapore) Awards of Excellence ceremony.

2     First of all, let me congratulate all the 33 award winners.  I am pleased to learn that LIAS has received a total of 67 participating entries - a record high since the inception of the awards in 2005.  This achievement reflects the significance of the Award to Singapore’s landscape industry.  It is also a positive sign that quality landscaping is gaining more recognition in Singapore.

Resilience of the Singapore Landscape Industry
3     Our landscape industry has come a long way since the 1960s, when then Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew launched the campaign to transform Singapore into a Garden City.  From that time, the landscape industry has become a key pillar in supporting our national greening efforts. It will continue to play a strategic role in our transformation from a “Garden City” into a “City in a Garden”.

4     Today, even as the Singapore economy has been affected by the global downturn, the landscape industry has been boosted by the boom in the construction industry, which has grown by 24% and 19% in the first and second quarters of this year respectively.

5     I believe that the prospects ahead for the landscape industry remain bright.  Over the next year, landscape works at the two Integrated Resorts as well as the Gardens by the Bay will commence.  This will offer our landscape companies many attractive opportunities.

6     Beyond these mega projects, the demand for landscape services will be sustained as we continue our efforts to transform Singapore into a city of gardens and waters. Besides setting aside another 900 hectare of land for parks in the next 15 years, we will also see the implementation of more Active, Beautiful and Clean (ABC) Waters projects all over the island.

7     In addition, we will be expanding the network of park connectors from 100 km to 360 km to create a network of green linkages and spaces permeating throughout Singapore.  National Parks (or NParks) and the Urban Redevelopment Authority (or URA) will also be engaging the industry more actively to promote the implementation of rooftop gardens and vertical greenery.

Preparing for the Future
8     While there are many opportunities for the landscape industry during this economic downturn, I am also pleased to learn that the industry is spending resources to upgrade itself. Many industry players have taken up the challenge to move towards outcome-based contracting, and have been paying more attention to training workers and mechanising work processes. The industry is also actively reaching out to engage the community and profile itself.  Many of you have invested resources to set up landscape displays at the HortPark, and exhibition booths at the recent GardenTech 2009 event in August 2009, to showcase your talent and creativity

9     These efforts are indeed laudable.  I encourage you to do more.  Moving forward, the new standards and benchmarks will be set by mega projects such as the Gardens by the Bay and the Integrated Resorts.  The key to your continued success will depend on your ability to reach and surpass these benchmarks.

10    Let me now outline three areas which the landscape industry can strive to prepare for its sustainable growth in the future.

Developing a Core of Local Expertise
11    The first area is to attract more Singaporeans to join the landscape industry and to retain them.  Foreign labour has made important contributions to the growth of our landscape industry.  However, they are a transient workforce, and we will need to complement it with a stable core of local expertise to sustain the vibrancy of the landscape industry in the long term.

12    NParks’ Centre for Urban Greenery and Ecology, together with the Community Development Councils and NTUC's Employment and Employability Institute, have trained and placed close to 2,000 locals in the landscape industry.  I am happy to hear that more locals are showing interests to join the industry, which led to a 12% increase in the number of locals trained and placed in the industry this year compared to last year.  To encourage them to remain in the landscape industry even as the economy picks up, the industry would have to continuously improve itself to become an employer of choice.  Some specific areas include improving career paths, salary packages, training and certification.  NParks has shared with me that many of you are already making efforts to address these human resource issues.

Improving Productivity
13    The second area is to enhance your productivity.  By raising productivity, you can improve your competitiveness and margins. You will also be able to employ fewer workers at higher wages.  This will help you attract and retain good people in the industry.

14    NParks has been working with the landscape industry to improve its productivity through mechanisation and strengthening its management practices.  Next year, NParks will embark on a project to better understand the current labour productivity levels in the industry and to develop productivity benchmarks to guide the industry.  As part of this effort, NParks is leading a study trip this coming November to Australia to visit some of the more productive landscape companies and to learn from their experiences.  I am glad to learn that ten companies in the landscape industry have already signed up for this NParks trip.

Acquiring Environmentally-Friendly Capabilities
15    The third area is to acquire new capabilities to address growing global concerns over climate change, and to meet our society’s aspiration to be more environmentally conscious.  There will be greater demand for more environmentally-friendly solutions in our physical environment.  The landscape industry will need to adapt and adopt more eco-friendly technologies and practices in the medium to long term.  In the coming years, Singapore will move towards the building of more environmentally-friendly parks and skyrise greenery.  Your environmental credentials will be a key competitive advantage in your abilities to compete for such projects in Singapore and the region.

Conclusion
16    In conclusion, I would like to highlight that the landscape industry is a key partner of NParks and the Ministry of National Development in transforming Singapore into the modern green city that it is today.  We look forward to your continued support and commitment to our sustainable development efforts for Singapore.  Thank you.

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