Singapore to spend US$1.2B on infocomm projects

SINGAPORE City Developments Ltd (CDL) executive chairman Kwek Leng Beng yesterday acknowledged that there have been some cases of high-end property buyers resorting to panicselling in the secondary market.

These are people who’d bought their units during the early stages of the property boom ‘It is not as alarming as what some people think. Just bear in mind, because of a couple of transactions, these few swallows do not make a summer,’ he told analysts and journalists at a briefing to announce CDL’s second quarter results.

Ronnie Tay, CEO of Singapore's Infocomm Development Authority (IDA), said FY 2009, which started in April, will see the government calling more than 392 new infocomm projects.

government invested S$1.6 billion (US$1.1 billion) in 621 infocomm tenders in FY2008, which included the network company (NetCo) for the country's planned next-generation national broadband network (NBN), said Tay.

Financial year, an estimated 40 percent of the tenders will be worth more than S$500,000 (US$342,350) each, he added. These include big projects like the Ministry of Education's (MOE's) Standard ICT Operating Environment (SOE) for schools project.

This is a separate system from the IDA's 8-year SOEasy project awarded last year, which will be implemented across 74 government agencies.

Government CIO, IDA, said the remaining 60 percent of the tenders valued at less than S$500,000 (US$342,350) are of smaller scope, and will give SMBs (small and midsize businesses) the opportunity to apply for them.

Kang said the government has for the past four years awarded two-thirds of its infocomm contracts to local companies, with multi-national corporations winning the rest.

Tay said at a media briefing later, there is no preference shown to local companies, but remarked this trend "could be the local companies growing in capability".

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