AS SINGAPORE’S businesses struggle with manpower shortages, uncertain land leases, and complex regulatory frameworks, a public-private partnership is working to tackle these challenges – with a report outlining recommendations set to be released by the end of the year.
Since its launch in February, the Alliance for Action (AfA) on Business Competitiveness has engaged more than 100 business and trade association leaders across 19 industry sessions.
The AfA is made up of 19 representatives from the government, industry, trade associations and trade unions.
“Through that all, we picked up the feedback and suggestions on how we can co-create solutions to sharpen our companies’ business competitiveness,” AfA co-chair and Senior Minister of State for Trade and Industry Low Yen Ling said on Wednesday (Sep 18).
She was speaking to reporters ahead of the AfA’s latest committee meeting – its fifth.
The AfA’s work will focus on three pillars: addressing manpower challenges, optimising industrial land use, and streamlining regulatory frameworks to enhance business competitiveness.
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For instance, companies have highlighted several manpower challenges during the AfA discussions, especially in sectors such as waste management and manufacturing, which rely more on manual labour and foreign workers.
Automation remains limited in these sectors, and despite ongoing transformation efforts, companies struggle to shift from a high labour-reliant model to one that is more efficient and lean, noted AfA co-chair and Singapore Business Federation vice-chairman Mark Lee.
To address these issues, the AfA is exploring how existing schemes can be refined to become more accessible and flexible for businesses.
One such scheme is the Manpower for Strategic Economic Priorities (M-SEP), which allows businesses to access additional foreign labour if they contribute to Singapore’s economic priorities through investment, innovation or internationalisation activities.
Said Lee: “One of the recommendations for manpower is really to tap on existing government schemes like M-SEP; and also, how (can) we enhance M-SEP further?”
Meanwhile, land concerns remain a key issue, with businesses calling for more transparency in industrial lease renewals.
Susan Chong, CEO of vertical farm GreenPhyto and AfA pillar lead on land use, highlighted businesses’ concerns over the uncertainty surrounding industrial lease renewals, which hampers long-term planning.
Chong also pointed out how short lease tenures complicate financing for businesses, with banks hesitant to lend due to the uncertainty.
“Even if they lend, if the tenure is too short, the repayment is very high – that will also impact businesses’ cash flow,” she added. “We will work with the government in these areas.”
Finally, regulatory complexity has also emerged as another challenge for businesses.
Neil Parekh, partner at Tikehau Capital and AfA pillar lead on regulations, noted that many businesses are dealing with “regulatory creep”, where outdated regulations overlap with newer ones, creating confusion.
“Our goal in this regulatory pillar is to untangle these regulations while keeping the basic ethos of making sure that we are well-regulated,” Parekh said.
“We want regulations, but we want regulations that businesses can work with and actually help grow the business,” he added.
Parekh cited the example of the solar sector, where businesses are often unclear about new installation and safety requirements.
If these regulations were clarified, he noted, the installation rate of solar panels across the island could be “significantly higher”.
