Singapore minister decries poor state of construction industry

National Development Minister Khaw Boon Wan points out weaknesses in productivity and innovation.

Singapore is underpeforming, he said, compared to regional paragons like Australia, Hong Kong and Japan, in an essay titled "More plastics?" at the MND Singapore blog.

The minister offered a slew of process improvements that could boost productivity to more competitive levels, including adoption of methods used by the Housing Development Board.

"Greater standardisation and off-site precasting of building components are important strategies. There are also other avenues to complement these efforts, which involve some innovation. Every effort counts," Minister Khaw Boon Wan said.

"Take the example of water pipes. A typical HDB block with 100 flats would use about 3 kilometres of water pipes. Traditionally, many buildings use copper pipes. These pipes are jointed using welding. This requires skilled labour and is time consuming. This is an opportunity for productivity gain," he added.

"HDB now uses a more productive method to join copper pipes. Through a 'press fit' method, they crimp together the pipes to be jointed. The press fit method does not involve skilled labour nor high temperatures; it has led to substantial productivity gain. Although this is good, HDB continues to explore the use of other materials to push for higher productivity," he said further.

"In Europe and the US, the industry uses the flexible plastic water piping, for indoor water piping. They use a material called cross-linked polyethylene, or PEX for short, which is a durable and light plastic. Being plastic, PEX is very flexible and needs less joints compared to the conventional copper piping system. Installing PEX piping also doesn’t require welding," the minister added.

"These advantages mean the time taken to install PEX piping is 40% less than copper pipes using the conventional welding method. As an illustration, two workers can install PEX piping for 3 toilets in one day, compared to only 2 toilets when using copper piping," he said.

"One local plumbing SME contractor, OSK Engineering is a pioneer in using PEX systems and has received funding support from BCA’s Construction Productivity and Capability Fund. The PEX system is now part of PUB’s approved list of indoor piping systems. Currently, more than 20 private sector developments, including, factories, offices, hotels and housing projects, are using the PEX system for their indoor piping needs," he said further.