MTI Dialogue Session (all posts)

Question: The arts scene has blown up. Local talent is more recognised. 5 years ago no one knew about the Necessary Stage. The Esplanade is a world space.

How about architecture? We keep depending on foreign architecture. Global architects can't do a good job because they don't understand our culture.

Answer: Foreign architects have a limited appreciation of local conditions. Europeans like high ceilings since they're cool, but with thunderstorms if you have a linkway with a high ceiling, it's not good for shelter.

The IR design by Frank Gary who did Bilbao was thought fantastic by aficionados. Someone said it looked like crumpled tissue paper. Genting is getting Robert Grays, a European with an understated style. Some people found it boring.

We can't force private companies to hire locals. Branding is chosen by the company. 'Scenic architecture' needs scenic architects. Locals can't do it.

'Architecture is like art. 2 guys draw a blotch. One guy is a famous artist. it's great. Another guy, it's rubbish.'

Singaporean architecture is HDB architecture, because that's our langscape. Our architecture is not imaginative, because people want to maximise plot ratios and the most efficient way to do that is to build a box. Circles are a waste of space. Bangkok has funny designs, but they waste space from a developer's point of view.

The challenge is to educate developers here. The government is trying to use locals, eg For Marina South international architects do most of the work but one portion is reserved for locals, so they can show what they can do.

Question: The real estate industry is booming. Property prices are rising. Speculaton is inevitable, but now there's speculation in mid-level condos. When is speculation too much?

Answer: Speculation is not a bad work. When people buy and sell in the stock market we call it liquidity and it's a good thing.

It's hard to only sell to Singaporeans. Speculation is not done in middle-range condos but Marina Bay types. There's market segmentation - District 9, 10 and 11, Sentosa Cove and Marina properties go for $3000/sq ft. In the middle tier, people buy to live and the base tier is HDB. For some people it's a good sign.

Hong Kong prices have risen 10-15% per year. Singapore is flattish. Now we have stamp duty upfront to cool the market a bit but not too much.

What indicators do we use to know when to step in? We have them but we can't say, since that'd defeat the point if the speculators knew.

Question: Why don't we focus on Africa and South America? Africa is high risk, but during the IMF, Africans were distributing brochures about their untapped markets.

Answer: Small companies and businesses are stretched to their limits; just covering China and India, they're finished.

You don't just deploy people - you need to understand the market and work on the ground so trading will be easier.

Latin America is far away and there's not enough activity to justify anything. There're some Singaporean firms in Brazil and there's an effort to cross barriers. Africa has risk but there're interesting spots like Algeria and South Africa. There's a need to target markets with opportunities. It's not the government's job.