Debated in Parliament on 17 Feb 2014.
Mr Gan Thiam Poh asked the Minister for National Development whether the Ministry can consider allowing all Government agencies to grant their building contractors a time extension of up to six months to fulfill their building contracts without imposing any liquidated damages in view of the tightening on foreign labour.
As part of our construction productivity drive, we have regulated the demand for foreign workers by progressively reducing the Man-Year Entitlement (MYE) quota for new projects, and raising foreign worker levies. We have announced these measures in advance so that builders can factor these changes in their bids for new construction projects.
Our intention is to price the workers right so that builders will deploy more skilled workers and use more productive technologies to raise construction productivity and reduce our reliance on foreign workers.
Singapore is experiencing a tight labour market across all economic sectors. For the built environment sector, this affects both private and public sector projects. To address this, contractors who need more workers beyond the MYE quota can apply through the MYE-waiver tier, but would have to pay higher levies. We have also set up the Construction Productivity and Capability Fund to help firms defray the cost of mechanisation uptake and raise their workers’ skill levels.
Besides the tightening of labour supply, there are many other reasons for project delays, such as ground problems at the worksite; diversion of roads and services; and poor site management and safety practices. Currently, there are standard contractual provisions which allow builders to submit requests for time extension to complete the projects so long as these are justified. Our agencies will evaluate such requests on a case-by-case basis while not letting up on our objectives of boosting construction productivity and reducing our
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reliance on foreign workers.
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