HONG KONG INDUSTRIAL INVESTMENTS IN SINGAPORE

[Mr Speaker in the Chair]

Mr Lim Cheng Lock asked the Minister for Finance whether Hong Kong industrialists who have shown interest in industrial investments in Singapore have merely made enquiries from the Economic Development Board or whether they have made any commitments to establish factories in Singapore, and if he will make a statement on developments in this connection in the last two months.

Dr Goh Keng Swee: Sir, of the large number of Hong Kong industrialists who have recently approached the Economic Development Board with investment proposals, 86 have entered into a serious commitment to establish a factory in Singapore. This commitment constitutes either site acquisition or site and building acquisition. In addition, most of these have entered into partnerships with Singapore industrialists and, in a good number of instances, orders for the purchase of equipment and machinery have been placed.

The total capital investment of these 86 enterprises, excluding the cost of land, comes to $49 million. Being largely labour intensive, they will provide many jobs for this sum, 8,000 in the initial phase and 13,600 when at full production.

The 86 firms in terms of size of capital investment may be classified as follows: Investment of $ 1 million or more 17 Investment of $ ½ million to under $1 million 13 Investment of $200,000 to under $½ million 44 Under $200,000 12 -- Total 86 ==

The projects cover a wide field. To mention only a few, they include building hardware, electronics, pharmaceuticals, clocks and watches, toys, various machinery and engineering products, synthetic fibres, and printing and publishing. The figures I give represent the position at the latest count. The number will no doubt increase as the more recent arrivals firm up their investment arrangements.

One feature of these new projects is that the larger part of the output is produced for the export market. Hong Kong industrialists are reputed for their fine competitive performance in world markets. They are the kind of entrepreneurs any sensible developing country would be glad to have, and Singapore extends a warm welcome to them. We shall do all we can to make their ventures in Singapore successful and profitable.