AFP – 1 hour
33 minutes ago
DPM Teo Chee Hean admits that population growth in recent years
has outpaced Singapore's infrastructure plans.
Speaking in Parliament on Thursday, Minister Teo said the
government has since ramped up infrastructure development in the
areas of transport, housing and healthcare and these are "coming on
stream progressively".
But he admitted that going forward, Singapore needs to "better
manage infrastructure provision with population needs".
DPM Teo was responding to Workers' Party MP Pritam Singh, who had
asked how Singapore plans to accommodate 6 million people in the
future, a target previously quoted by PM Lee as the total number of
people Singapore could afford to accommodate.
Singh had also asked how the new 690,000 arrivals would affect
housing prices and how many would comprise of new citizens,
permanent residents and non-residents.
Hougang SMC MP Png Eng Huat also asked whether existing
infrastructures are adequately designed to support Singapore's
current population size, as well as what the target population
densities in five, 10 and 15 years' time is.
Singapore's population currently stands at 5.31 million.
Addressing the questions, DPM Teo said the government would be
careful to ensure that the country's living environment and
economic viability would be key considerations in "determining the
sustainable population we want for Singapore in the future."
DPM Teo did not address Png’s questions on population density and
whether quality of life would be affected as a result.
In response to WP’s Singh on whether population studies have been
carried out to examine Singapore’s ability to support a population
of six million, DPM Teo would only say that a White Paper would
soon be released from the country’s National Population and Talent
Division.
The Paper, which comes after public consultation, will address
issues of societal cohesion and Singapore’s population make-up in
depth.
