The establishment of these projects was instrumental in boosting Singa-pore’s ailing economy last year. Economist Song Seng Wun of CIMB Private Bank says such developments are great for Singapore, as they will “ensure we stay relevant to the world”. “Our attractiveness comes from our brand name, rule of law and neutrality. In the light of uncertain macroeconomic conditions, it is good that we attract such talent; it will give us greater certainty of continued economic growth,” he adds.
SINGAPORE (May 13): The expansion of the construction sector for the first time in 10 quarters has provided relief to Singapore’s GDP. The sector grew 1.4% in the first quarter of the year, following a surge in non-residential developments as well as a reduced sluggishness in the residential property market segment, the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) indicated in its latest half-yearly economic review. Certified payments for industrial projects had also increased nearly 58% y-o-y between October 2018 and February 2019, owing to the ramping-up of new projects such as semiconductor fabrication plants and data centers, MAS said.
Jumping on the bandwagon is Equinix, a US-based IT-solutions MNC. In January, it set up a fourth data centre in Singapore, in collaboration with Mapletree Industrial Trust. Its existing data centres here occupy a total of 41,400 sq m. Its new US$85.3 million ($116.1 million) facility will have an initial capacity of 1,400 cabinets across 4,220 sq m of co-location space, and will be operational in 4Q2019. It is believed to offer more than 17,000 jobs. Social media giant Facebook is also set to have its 11-storey data centre here. The 170,000 sq m facility, which cost more than $1.4 billion, is the company’s first in Asia and will be located in Tanjong Kling.
