Influx of Foreigners on Work Permits and Employment Passes

Mr Arthur Fong asked the Prime Minister what are the plans or initiatives of the National Population Secretariat to address overcrowding issues due to the large influx of foreigners here on Work Permits and Employment Passes as well as newly admitted Permanent Residents.

Mr Teo Chee Hean: The Government has implemented several measures to manage the growth of our population. Following the tightening of the immigration framework in late 2009, the number of persons granted Permanent Residence (PR) fell from 79,167 in 2008 to 59,460 in 2009 and 29,265 in 2010.

Controls on our foreign workforce have also been tightened to moderate our dependence on them. Measures include higher qualifying salaries for Employment Pass (EP) and S Pass holders, the tightening of eligibility requirements for EP holders, and further changes to the foreign worker levy rates and tiers for S Pass and Work Permit (WP) holders.

At the same time, we are ramping up our infrastructure to address demand. We have increased the supply of Build-to-Order (BTO) flats and private residential units through the Government Land Sales (GLS) programme. Over the next few years, we will significantly enhance the capacity of our MRT network, by adding new lines as well as increasing the capacity of existing lines through measures such as procuring more trains. We are also working with the bus operators to ramp up bus service levels and capacity, to reduce crowding and waiting time and improve connectivity. We are improving access to healthcare facilities through new hospitals, such as the Ng Teng Fong General Hospital to be opened in 2014. We will also bring forward the development of Sengkang General Hospital to 2018, from the original timeframe of 2020. Moving ahead, the Government will continue to plan and develop our infrastructure to support the needs of our population.

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