Insular Southeast Asia - Dragons and Tigers: A Geography of South, East and Southeast Asia - page 465

Act of 1967 allowed the government to acquire land any-
where, making serious urban planning possible. Before
then, the city was plagued with a soaring population and
housing shortages. The PAP set up a Housing Develop-
ment Board (HDB), which cleared slums and renewed or
built new housing along the Singapore River. Hundreds of
Chinese shops (with living quarters above) gave way to
multi-unit apartment blocks. In the case of older housing,
residents paid only 10 to 20 percent of the cost of refur-
bishing. The government paid the rest.
The HDB then proceeded to build new towns, com-
plete with high-rise apartment blocks, town centers,
markets, schools, and light industries to provide jobs.
With government loans, apartments (flats) are sold far
below free market prices and now house about 90 per-
cent of the city' s population.
Population planning is also part of the grand plan.
Prior to the 1980s, strict family size controls and incen-
tives were introduced, with a resultant drop in fertility
rates, especially among the Chinese majority . Suddenly ,
the government realized that there were not going to be
enough workers for the growing economy . In 1987, new
policies were introduced encouraging people to have
more children. Nevertheless, Singapore' is TFR of 1.3 is
one of the lowest in Asia. While Malays and Indians have
higher fertility rates, the Chinese remain the majority at
75 percent of the population. Indians comprise 9 percent
and the Malays 14 percent. The remaining 2 percent are
Europeans and other non-Asians.
Many more plans are in the making, especially for
acquiring water. Singapore has developed what is called a
“Four Tap” policy on water. This includes:

there are five NEWater factories that can meet
30 percent of Singapore' s water needs.
Desalinization: In 2005, Singapore opened Sing
Spring—its first desalination plant. The plant can
produce 30 million gallons of water (113,562 m 3 )
a day . The plant also produces bottled water known
as Desal H2O. Sing Spring is one of the largest such
enterprises in the world and is meeting 10 percent
of the city' s water requirements.

CYBERCITY
Already one of the world' s largest hubs for shipping and
commerce, this economic tiger is staking its future on
becoming a global nerve center for media and communi-
cations. The National Computer Board' s report titled
“IT2000: Vision of an Intelligent Island” proposes an in-
frastructure that includes both a fiber-optic network and
the information services that require this form of digital
communication. Singapore is second to Japan in terms
of the number of computers it manufactures. In addi-
tion, the island makes more than half of the world' s hard
disc drives and almost all the sound cards for personal
computers.
A new emphasis is being placed on biomedicine.
The island wants to make the biomedical sciences,
which include the research and development of pharma-
ceuticals, biotechnology , medical equipment, and
health-care products and services, the “fourth pillar” of
its economy . The other three pillars are electronics, en-
gineering, and chemicals.
Several pharmaceutical companies such as Glaxo-
SmithKline and Pfizer and Merck & Co. have opted to lo-
cate in Singapore. In 2006, GlaxoSmithKline announced
that it was building another plant to produce pediatric
vaccines—the first such facility in Asia.
Singapore' s largely corruption-free government,
skilled workforce, and advanced and efficient infrastruc-
ture have attracted investments from more than 3,000
multinational corporations (MNCs) from the United
States, Japan, and Europe. Foreign firms are found in vir-
tually every sector of the economy , and account for more
than two-thirds of manufacturing output and direct ex-
port sales.
More than 7,000 MNCs operate out of Singapore, em-
ploying 60 percent of the island' s workforce and produc-
ing 80 percent of its exports. Companies regard
Singapore' s infrastructure as superb. It has the world' s
busiest container port, busier than even Hong Kong or
Rotterdam, state-of-the-art utilities, and one of the world' s

Imported Water: For decades, Singapore has im-
ported water from Malaysia, which has accounted
for half of the city' s supply . As of 2009, this depend-
ence had been reduced to 40 percent. However, the
two water agreements that bring this water to Sin-
gapore are set to expire by 2011 and 2061. Cur-
rently , the two countries are engaged in a debate
over the price of water.
Rainfall: Singapore' s first reservoir was built by the
British in 1867. Since then, numerous reservoirs
and catchment areas have been installed. By 2001,
there were more than 40 reservoirs, treatment
works and water catchment areas. T Two additional
reservoirs are under construction.
Recycled Water: NEWater is the brand name given
to reclaimed water produced by the city' s public
utilities. This is, in fact, purified sewage. Currently ,