ASIA’S BUZZING METROPOLIS AND GLOBAL CENTRE FOR LIVING AND BUSINESS, FOR INNOVATION AND TALENT

Foreword

The Future of Infrastructure

Singapore is Asia’s buzzing metropolis and global centre for living and business, innovation and talent. Renowned for its robust economy, highly educated workforce, excellent global connectivity and high standard of living, it is constantly evolving and reinventing itself.

In AECOM’s second global Future of Infrastructure report, we asked over 1,000 people in Singapore for their views on city infrastructure and their expectations for its future evolution. We found that citizens see the constructive measures city leaders are taking to enhance Singapore’s infrastructure, and care most about public transportation.

Citizens are open to greater private sector involvement in infrastructure development and support work to build a greener, safer, digitally driven and better-connected Singapore to secure future success.

In terms of innovation, Singapore is at the forefront of digitisation and becoming a cashless society, with a large majority of citizens paying for utilities and transportation via internet/mobile banking.

AECOM has extensive experience of working in Singapore and other major global cities. With our talent pool of planners, designers, engineers and other infrastructure-related professionals, we have the knowledge and capabilities to develop and deliver innovative infrastructure solutions that improve lives and connect communities.

Billy Wong
Regional Executive, Southeast Asia, AECOM

Topping Mercer’s list of Asian cities offering the highest quality of life, Singapore also ranks first worldwide for the ease of doing business by the World Bank, since 2012.

Singapore’s robust economy, highly educated workforce, excellent connectivity, and high standard of living offer businesses the ideal environment to invest with confidence.

The government aims to create 'An Endearing Home and a Distinctive Global City' by developing world-class infrastructure and creating a vibrant and sustainable living environment.

The government seeks to increase connectivity and engagement with the people and private sector by driving digital innovation via the Smart Nation initiative.

INFRASTRUCTURE IS EVERYONE’S BUSINESS

In collaboration with Longitude — a Financial Times Company, AECOM’s Future of Infrastructure research harnesses survey data and opinions from over 10,000 infrastructure users in 10 major global cities, including Singapore, to ask how satisfied, safe, inspired and engaged people feel with their roads and bridges, rail services and utilities.

  • Satisfaction
  • Engagement
  • Innovation
  • Resilience
  • City quick facts

    City Leader / Mayor 

    Halimah Yacob – President of Singapore (September 2017 – present)

    Lee Hsien Loong – Prime Minister of Singapore (August 2004 – present)

    The People’s Action Party (PAP) is the ruling political party in Singapore. Since the 1959 general elections, the PAP has led Singapore's politics and has been credited as being central to the city-state's rapid political, social, and economic development.

    • Ministry of National Development and its agencies: implement policies related to land use and infrastructure development.
    • Ministry of Transport and its agencies: plan, design, build and maintain Singapore's land transport infrastructure.
    • Ministry of Trade and Industry and its agencies: promote economic growth and generate employment.
    • Ministry of the Environment and Water Resources and its agencies: provide a quality living environment and a high standard of public health.

BUILDING A MORE SUSTAINABLE, CONNECTED AND RESILIENT NATION 

Singaporeans indicated that they want a more sustainable, connected and resilient city, which aligns with the government’s goals of promoting a Smart Nation.

Some 62% of respondents felt that the private sector should take a greater role in infrastructure development. Singaporeans were generally displeased with the reliability of the current public transportation system, with 58% finding it increasingly stressful to travel via public transportation and 59% saying that they would not be willing to pay higher fares for public transportation.

Singaporeans were generally less engaged with the relevant agencies — many of whom are promoting interactions via social media and mobile channels.

The Voice of the People // The Future of Infrastructure

[City]: Satisfaction

Singaporeans care about public transport. The large majority (84%) use public transportation as their primary mode of transportation, of which 55% take the subway. But 58% find it increasingly stressful to travel via public transportation.

High fares and delays could play a role in people’s dissatisfaction. A total of 22% rated overall public transportation as unaffordable, while 20% rated public transportation reliability as ‘poor’.

Around 18% of the respondents are willing to pay higher fares for public transportation. Some 22% are also willing to pay higher taxes to fund improvements in infrastructure.

Scores for satisfaction, engagement, innovation, and resilience are based on a 1–10 scale.

  • 10–7.6

    Very satisfied

  • 7.5–5.1

    Moderately satisfied

  • 5.0–2.6

    Not very satisfied

  • 2.5–1.0

    Dissatisfied

Less than half of the respondents (45%) think that the city government usually makes the right decisions about which large-scale infrastructure projects to fund, hence indicating that the majority of Singaporeans are dissatisfied with the decision-making process. As such, most Singaporeans (62%) agree that the private sector should be more involved in infrastructure development.

Half of the respondents felt that large-scale transportation projects were usually completed on schedule.

 

Water (32%) and subway/underground (24%) were considered the top two priorities for future infrastructure spending.

The minority of Singaporean respondents agreed that water and electricity services were affordable (42% and 35%, respectively). However, most concurred on the reliability of both services (79% experienced no water outages and 61% no power cuts).

Less than one-third of Singaporeans felt that the service they have received from their water (30%) and electricity (28%) providers has got better in the last 12 months. For the vast majority of users (water — 61% and electricity — 60%, respectively), these services have remained about the same as the previous year.

Article / Engagement

Do You Know Your Community?
Five Steps to Working Closer

Do You Know Your Community?
Article / Skills

All Change?
Infrastructure’s Next-Gen Workforce

All Change?
Article / Funding

An Informed Engaged Public:
Key to Modernizing Infrastructure

An Informed Engaged Public:

The Voice of the People // The Future of Infrastructure

[City]: Engagement

Singaporeans were generally less inclined to provide comments to public transportation providers, possibly due to the more reserved culture of Asians in giving feedback, as compared to their Western counterparts.

In the last 12 months, a large majority (64%) did not have the opportunity to provide feedback to a public transportation provider, and 36% said that public transportation providers had not interacted with them.

Less than half of Singaporeans surveyed (40%) said that city officials were clear about submission procedures when requesting citizen feedback about public infrastructure issues, while half of them indicated that they felt that requests for feedback on infrastructure improvements or investments come too late in the process for the feedback to be meaningful.

Scores for satisfaction, engagement, innovation, and resilience are based on a 1–10 scale.

  • 10–7.6

    Very satisfied

  • 7.5–5.1

    Moderately satisfied

  • 5.0–2.6

    Not very satisfied

  • 2.5–1.0

    Dissatisfied

Promoting interactions via social media and mobile channels could increase engagement, with a significant number of Singaporeans agreeing that city planning authorities are making it easier to engage with them via social media (44%) and mobile channels (40%).

In the last 12 months, the top two issues which Singaporeans gave feedback on were price of services (18%) and billing issues (17%).

In addition, 42% of respondents think that changes in elected city officials often result in major changes to infrastructure policy.

THE top 3 major infrastructure projects delivered in singapore IN the last ten years

Project

Deep Tunnel Sewerage System (Ongoing)

Deep Tunnel Sewerage System (Ongoing)
Project

MARINA BAY AND GREATER SOUTHERN WATERFRONT (ONGOING)

MARINA BAY AND GREATER SOUTHERN WATERFRONT (ONGOING)
Project

Integrated Waste Management Facility (Ongoing)

Integrated Waste Management Facility (Ongoing)

The Voice of the People // The Future of Infrastructure

[City]: Innovation

When asked about the importance of various infrastructure improvements, Singaporeans listed upgrading public transportation as the most important, reinforcing the citizens’ focus for a reliable and efficient public transport network to improve their quality of life.

The next most important improvement was increasing environmental sustainability, suggesting that the citizens were aware of the importance of conserving the world’s resources and protecting the environment. The third most important was protection against cyberattacks.

Scores for satisfaction, engagement, innovation, and resilience are based on a 1–10 scale.

  • 10–7.6

    Very satisfied

  • 7.5–5.1

    Moderately satisfied

  • 5.0–2.6

    Not very satisfied

  • 2.5–1.0

    Dissatisfied

In terms of innovation, Singapore is at the forefront of digitisation and becoming a cashless society. A large majority (67%) of the respondents are able to use internet banking to pay for public transportation, water, power, other utilities or public municipal services, while more than half (55%) can use their mobile phones to do so. Some 42% of respondents said that the main provider of transportation makes available innovative payment options depending on time of day or usage.

With increasing mobile connectivity islandwide, Singaporeans indicated that fibre-optic broadband is the technology that will have the largest positive impact on their quality of life, while virtual/augmented reality was identified to have smallest potential impact.

Some 59% of Singaporeans said that they use one or more mobile app to stay updated on public transport issues.

Singaporeans recognise the importance of data in helping to deliver innovative solutions and smarter infrastructure. Around 42% of those surveyed are willing to share their personal data with relevant city agencies to help improve city infrastructure services.

However, most Singaporeans are not aware of the plans made by city authorities, as 73% said that in the last 12 months, they had not viewed an infrastructure plan made available by city authorities.

Article / innovation

Right Here, Right Now:
Mobility as a Service

Right Here, Right Now:
Article / Accelerated delivery

Olmsted Dam:
Making Modern America

Olmsted Dam:
Article / Resilience

Making Cities Resilient:
A Cyber Stress Test

Making Cities Resilient:

The Voice of the People // The Future of Infrastructure

[City]: Resilience

Increasing digitisation and technological advancements bring about more challenges to cyber and personal security. In recent months, there has been a rise in the number of cybersecurity infringements and hackings in Singapore.

For citizens, cybersecurity seems to be the biggest perceived threat to infrastructure resilience, compared to terrorism and natural disasters. Only one-third of the respondents (36%) are confident that the city government is able to protect infrastructure from cyberattacks. This is lower than in the case of natural disasters or terrorism, where 43% and 54% of the respondents, respectively, gave their vote of confidence.

Scores for satisfaction, engagement, innovation, and resilience are based on a 1–10 scale.

  • 10–7.6

    Very satisfied

  • 7.5–5.1

    Moderately satisfied

  • 5.0–2.6

    Not very satisfied

  • 2.5–1.0

    Dissatisfied

About half of Singaporeans (45%) are of the view that the government is lagging behind other cities when it comes to encouraging or implementing environmentally sustainable practices. It is evident that the government is making efforts to increase the amount of green space in the city, with 54% of respondents agreeing that the amount of open green space has expanded in the last two years.

To improve resiliency, the Singapore government has educated the citizens to help protect themselves against any potential crisis. Some 63% of the respondents (the highest percentage among all other cities) indicated that they had been informed of drills or exercises that the city authorities had organised in the last two years to prepare for an emergency.

The Future of Infrastructure

Infographic

Singapore at a glance

The top three future infrastructure projects in Singapore 

Project

Tuas Mega Port

Tuas Mega Port
Project

Jurong Innovation District

Jurong Innovation District
Project

Changi Airport Terminal 5

Changi Airport Terminal 5