Sustainable infrastructure to become even more vital post-Covid-19: Indranee

The pandemic has highlighted the crucial importance of infrastructure in areas like sanitation, but building projects will require more funding from non-governmental sources, said Ms Indranee Rajah yesterday.

Ms Indranee, Minister in the Prime Minister's Office and Second Minister for Finance and Education, told a webinar that working with multilateral development banks and adopting new technology will be part of the solution.

"The pandemic has demonstrated the importance of cities' infrastructure for public health such as sanitation, hygiene and adequate access to clean water and waste disposal services," she noted.

"Reliable access to clean water and proper waste management have conventionally contributed to a country's sustainable development goals and have become even more important post-Covid."

She added that while strong governance and good planning have provided a structure to guide Singapore's infrastructure development, the pandemic calls for greater collaboration between the public and private sectors.

"When governments lay out clear directions for infrastructure plans and put in place the right governance structure, the private sector will have more confidence to participate in the implementation process, through the provision of technical and financial solutions," she said.

She noted that Singapore has an extensive range of companies offering solutions for water and waste management to meet increasing demands.

Funding from alternative sources outside the Government may also become more important post-Covid-19, she said, noting: "With resources being diverted towards Covid-19 recovery efforts, there is a strain on the Government to publicly finance infrastructure."

Funding does not need to be limited only to that provided by development finance institutions, she said.

Newer combinations of financing and tools to unlock international private sector capital is the way forward for infrastructure for public health. This could include working with multilateral development banks to develop newer ways of guaranteeing projects, she said.

Social funds can also be increasingly accessed for such projects, while infrastructure development can adopt new technologies to increase commercial viability.

She added that Infrastructure Asia, an office set up by the Government to facilitate investment in this area, has been developing newer solutions to meet project requirements.

The webinar was co-organised by the Centre for Liveable Cities and Infrastructure Asia.