Minister for National Development Mah Bow Tan (left) said: 'We are looking at something that is doable in the Singapore context, that is practical, that will give us results.' --PHOTO: BT
GOING green will help the economy, the Government hopes, by creating 18,000 more jobs and adding $3.4 billion to the Republic's gross domestic product (GDP) by 2015.
On Monday, Singapore's Government released its sustainable-development blueprint which projects that environment and water technologies and clean energy solutions will each contribute $1.7 billion to the GDP in the next six years.
Of these, 11,000 jobs will come from environment and water technologies, such as water-treatment plants, while 7,000 will come from the clean energy industry, such as solar-cell plants or biofuels.
To grow the clean technology - or 'cleantech' - sector, a $680 million fund has been set aside for research, development and training manpower.
January's Budget also pledged an additional $1billion for sustainable development over the next five years.
Though that figure is a small percentage of Singapore's $257.4 billion GDP produced last year, Minister for National Development Mah Bow Tan said: 'We are not looking at headline-grabbing numbers...We are looking at something that is doable in the Singapore context, that is practical, that will give us results.'
Read the full story in Tuesday's edition of The Straits Times.
