I grew up in Pasir Panjang. The West Coast then had a very different landscape. In our four decades of economic development, we have transformed it totally. We reclaimed the swamps of Jurong and converted them into thriving maritime and industrial areas. Today, we have a new island off its seafront, built by merging seven separate islands. I congratulate EDB and JTC on this Herculean achievement.

Let me also congratulate you on your marketing skills. In the short space of a few years, you have convinced over 60 leading petroleum, petrochemical, specialty chemical and supporting companies to hub on Jurong Island. These companies have invested over S$20 billion, and now provide employment to about 6,500 people.

I am also told that even while Jurong Island was still largely seawater surrounding seven pieces of barren rock, EDB convinced DuPont and many others to invest in it. Selling stretches of seawater, with only the promise of land sometime in the future, must surely be more difficult than selling ice cream to the Eskimos!

You have succeeded, however, because international investors have confidence in Singapore, and in our ability to deliver what we promise. This reputation has been earned over the years. It is a competitive asset, which we must not only retain but also improve upon.

What you have accomplished with Jurong Island will help entrench the chemical cluster as a key component of Singapore’s manufacturing sector. The chemical industry continues to do well. It produced a record S$23 billion output last year, or about 17% of total manufacturing output. More importantly, its future prospects are bright. Output should grow healthily as new plants come on-stream. By 2010, the chemical industry should have doubled its output to S$45 billion.

On a broader level, let me stress the continuing importance of manufacturing to Singapore. Manufacturing has played a key role in Singapore’s industrialisation and economic development. It has been a major engine of our economic growth. We have succeeded in building a strong manufacturing sector despite our small domestic market and lack of resources.

Even as we go into new areas of growth such as IT and the Life Sciences, manufacturing, with its significant contribution to GDP, employment and foreign exchange earnings, will remain an integral part of our economy. Our sharp recovery from the recent regional economic slowdown underlines the importance of manufacturing to Singapore. After only 2 quarters of GDP contraction in 1998, our economy bounced back. This V-shape recovery was driven mainly by manufacturing riding on the upturn in the global electronics cycle.

Our manufacturing sector, however, will face increasingly keen competition from other countries. We must make a concerted effort to ensure that it remains globally competitive. This goes beyond keeping costs down. We must find innovative ways and means to offer investors better value for their money, than if they were to locate elsewhere.

Jurong Island is a good example of the ingenuity that we need. By enabling industry integration on the island, its developers have generated significant synergy and economies of scale for the tenants. These gains help overcome Singapore’s resource limitations.

For example, Jurong Island provides its tenants with state-of-the-art facilities such as the Common Pipeline Service Corridor. This Corridor allows companies on Jurong Island to enjoy synergy and cost savings. They can plug into a network of pipes that transport raw materials, finished products and utilities seamlessly. The Corridor improves the competitiveness of the many companies here.

I have also been informed about JTC’s plans to provide integrated logistics support for companies on Jurong Island. And about the IT Masterplan that is being developed to help them exploit e-business. By 2002, the Chemical Engineering Research Institute will operate on the island. This new institute will collaborate with chemical companies in Singapore and with their overseas corporate research headquarters on scientific research, and process improvement and development projects.

But much more remains to be done.

You have to continue to think like an insurgent to support the investments of global technology leaders, such as Shell, ExxonMobil and Sumitomo Chemical, on Jurong Island. You need to create much more value for your tenants, if you want to achieve your 2010 target of housing 150 companies with investments of S$40 billion and 15,000 employees.

Though you have done well up to now, you cannot afford to rest on your laurels. The world is changing rapidly. There are always new challenges to face. Singapore is now competing in the premier league. We have to work smarter than before, and carve for ourselves a share of the New Economy activities.

To succeed, we must also have quality workers. Today, on Jurong Island, nine out of ten workers are technically trained. Half of them have tertiary education. The value added per worker is very high. At over S$650,000, it is more than eight times the national manufacturing average. These workers must constantly upgrade their capability to keep up with developments in the chemical industry. To this end, I am pleased to note that a Process Training Centre will be set up on Jurong Island. This will be a one-stop centre for practice-oriented training for workers and for students from our post-secondary education institutes.

The completion of Jurong Island opens another exciting chapter in Singapore’s industrial development. The high technology and high knowledge content of the activities on Jurong Island showcase what we want to achieve in the New Economy. I congratulate all those involved in this mega project. Keep up the good work, so that Jurong Island will soon acquire the reputation of a premier, world-class chemical hub.

. . . . .