Progress on Construction Sector's Productivity Roadmap and Capability Fund

Dr Teo Ho Pin asked the Minister for National Development whether he can provide an update on (i) the progress of the Construction Productivity Roadmap by BCA and (ii) details of the Construction Productivity and Capability Fund including the total amount of funds disbursed to-date, the number of firms that have benefited from the fund, and the productivity improvements that such firms have made to-date, respectively.

Mr Lawrence Wong: The first Construction Productivity Roadmap was launched in 2010. We tightened the supply of lower skilled foreign manpower, required buildings to adopt more productive design, and supported firms as they invested in productive technologies and upgraded their workers. The second Roadmap was launched in 2015. It encourages even higher capital investments, intensifies our efforts to build up a quality workforce, and further facilitates collaboration among stakeholders across the construction value chain. Through the two Roadmaps, we have targeted a 20-30% improvement in construction site productivity by 2020.

The results are encouraging. Annual site productivity increases have improved progressively from 0.3% in 2010 to 2.0% in 2015. A 2.0% increase is also projected for 2016. The cumulative site productivity improvement is about 10% since 2010.

Almost $800 million is available to firms through the Construction Productivity and Capability Fund (CPCF). As of end 2016, about $450 million has been committed to over 9,000 firms in the built environment sector. 90% of these companies are small and medium-sized firms.