After the coronavirus ran rampant on its labour camps, Singapore is seeking ways to rely less on foreign workers and accelerate automation of some tasks in its post-pandemic economy, a senior minister told reporters on Monday.
Second Minister for Finance Indranee Rajah said that “repetitive manual operation should be replaced by automation, and the local population can do more on higher value-added activities.”
Rajah added that “this has to be done in stages with cautions because we cannot just take out all the manual power all of a sudden.”
The city-state will redesign the infrastructure system, with investment focused on partnerships across the clean energy, public health, information & communications technology sectors, while promoting a “friendly regulatory environment”, she said in the briefing.
Rajah also further outlined a previously announced programme with the World Bank Group and Singapore Management University to train senior and mid-level regional government officials involved in project preparation.
Despite the impact of the pandemic, international financial sources remain available and very keen to support clean energy projects, said Rajah, who is also minister in the prime minister’s office. (Source: Bangkok Post)