Green Economy Journal Issue 59

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP
THOUGHT LEADERSHIP
THE CITY-STATE CONCEPT
The hypothesis for the success of infrastructure development in
Singapore is that its success is directly attributable to its city-state
status. A city-state is an independent sovereign city which serves as
the centre of political, economic and cultural life over its contiguous
territory. 9 They have existed in many parts of the world since the
dawn of history, including ancient poleis such as Athens, Jerusalem
and Rome, as well as the Italian city-states of the Middle Ages and the
Renaissance, such as Florence, Venice, Genoa and Milan.
Infrastructure is the set of facilities and systems that serve a
country, city or other area, 10 and encompasses the services and
facilities necessary for its economy, households and firms to
function. 11 Infrastructure is composed of public and private
physical structures such as roads, railways, bridges, tunnels, water
supply, sewers, electrical grids and telecommunications (including
Internet connectivity and broadband access).
In general, infrastructure has been defined as “the physical
components of interrelated systems providing commodities and
services essential to enable, sustain, or enhance societal living
conditions and maintain the surrounding environment”. 12
With the rise of nation states worldwide there is some
disagreement as to the number of modern city-states that still
exist; Singapore, Monaco and Vatican City are the candidates
most identified. The Economist called Singapore the “world’s
only fully functional city-state”.
Considering the massive societal transformations needed to
mitigate and adapt to climate change, contemporary infrastructure
conversations frequently focus on sustainable development
and green infrastructure. Acknowledging this importance, the
international community has created policy focused on sustainable
infrastructure through the SDGs, especially SDG9, “Industry,
Innovation and Infrastructure”.
One way to describe different types of infrastructure is to classify
them as two distinct kinds: hard and soft infrastructure. 13 Hard
infrastructure is the tangible, physical networks that support the wellbeing
of communities. This includes roads, bridges, and railways. Soft
infrastructure is all the institutions providing services that maintain
the economic, health, social, environmental and cultural standards of
a country. This includes educational programs, parks and recreational
facilities, law enforcement agencies and emergency services.
Gross fixed capital formation is a termed used to measure investment
in land, plant and equipment improvements, as well as the construction
of infrastructure. Essentially it is a measurement of how much of
the nation’s gross domestic product (GDP) gets invested in capital
formation. It is difficult to extract the infrastructure investment
spend from GCFC since GCFC inventory contains items that may
be used in capital formation but not remain part of infrastructure.
Therefore, one has to look at infrastructure spend as a percentage
of GDP. In 2021, China was the biggest investor on inland transport
infrastructure at 4.8%, compared to the US at 0.5%, with Singapore
and New Zealand at 0.6%. 14
INFRASTRUCTURE IN SINGAPORE
Due to its limited land area certain infrastructure services are
particularly challenging. Water is one of those, with transportation
another. In 2016 Singapore invested around 5% of its GDP on
infrastructure. In 2023 it was 4% and is expected to rise to about
4.4% by FY2026 to FY 2030. 15
Water infrastructure
Water supply and sanitation in Singapore are intricately linked to
the historical development of Singapore. Access to water in Singapore
is universal, affordable, efficient and of high quality. As of 2017, there
were about 5 500 km of potable water pipes in Singapore.
Innovative hydraulic engineering and integrated water management
approaches such as the reuse of reclaimed water, the establishment of
protected areas in urban rainwater catchments and the use of estuaries
as freshwater reservoirs have been introduced along with seawater
desalination to reduce the country’s dependence on untreated imported
water. 16 Five desalination plants have been opened throughout the
country since 2003, which in total are able to produce a maximum
capacity of approximately 890 000 000m 3 per day.
Singapore considers water a national security issue and the
government has sought to emphasise conservation. Water access
is universal and of high quality, though the country is projected to
face significant water-stress by 2040. To circumvent this, the Public
Utilities Board has implemented the “four national taps” strategy
– water imported from neighbouring Malaysia, urban rainwater
catchments, reclaimed water (NEWater) and seawater desalination.
More critically, Singapore’s approach does not rely only on physical
infrastructure; it also emphasises proper legislation and enforcement,
water pricing and public education as well as research and development.
Singapore has declared that it will be water self-sufficient by the
time its 1961 long-term water supply agreement with Malaysia expires
in 2061. However, according to official forecasts, water demand in
Singapore is expected to double from 1.4-million cubic metres to
2.8-million cubic metres per day between 2010 and 2060. The increase
is expected to come primarily from non-domestic water use, which
accounted for 55% of water demand in 2010 and is expected to account
for 70% of demand in 2060. By that time, water demand is expected
to be met by reclaimed water (50%) and by desalination accounting
(30%), compared to only 20% supplied by internal catchments.
Singapore considers water
a national security issue.
Road infrastructure
Singapore has a road system covering 3 356 kilometres, which includes
161 kilometres of expressways. 17 Roads take up 12% of the country’s
total land area. As Singapore is a small island with a high population
density, the number of private cars on the road is restricted with a
pre-set car population quota, to curb pollution and congestion.
Singapore’s car ownership rate is roughly 11%, whereas in the US
it is nearly 80% and under 50% in Europe. In Singapore, car buyers
must pay for Additional Registration Fees duties of either 100%,
140%, 180% or 220% of the vehicle’s Open Market Value and bid for a
Singaporean Certificate of Entitlement (that varies twice a month in
supply based on the number of car registrations and de-registrations),
which allows the car to be driven on the road for maximum period
of 10 years. Car prices are generally significantly higher in Singapore
than in other English-speaking countries. According to the Land
Transport Authority the total vehicle population of Singapore in
2021 was 988 755 of which 532 204 were private passenger cars.
Singapore’s public transport network comprises trains (consisting
of the MRT and LRT systems), buses and taxis. Taxis are a popular form
of transport as the fares are relatively affordable when compared to
many other developed countries, while private cars in Singapore are
the most expensive to own worldwide.
Woodlands MRT Station.
Rail Corridor, Singapore.
Singapore is one of the greenest
cities in the world, with parks and
gardens occupying 47% of all land.
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