from the ground Up

by Jessica Cheam, The Straits Times, Dec 31 2008
Flats in Choa Chu Kang, Punggol will be offered under built-to-order plan
THE Housing Board is bringing down the curtains on a busy year with one more sales exercise – this time for 1,181 flats in Choa Chu Kang and Punggol.
It is offering everything from studio apartments to [...]

by Jessica Cheam, The Straits Times, Dec 30 2008
Expansion of business park will position Singapore for recovery
THE economic outlook is all gloom but the Government is already positioning Singapore for the next upturn by unveiling plans to beef up the supply of business park space in Jurong.
Its ambitious move comes even as demand in the [...]

by Jessica Cheam, The Straits Times, Dec 30 2008

[Commentary]

THE year is 1933. The Great Depression began four years earlier and “The New Deal” had just been born.
The US economy was beginning its long recovery from the worst slump in its history. Then-United States president Franklin D. Roosevelt unveiled a slew of measures to create jobs and reform businesses and financial practices.
Today, 75 years later, the world finds itself in what has been called the “worst financial crisis since the Great Depression”. Unsurprisingly, Roosevelt has become a touchstone again and a new version of his “New Deal” has emerged. This time, however, it’s taken on a hue: green.
At the United Nations climate change talks in Poland last month, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon called for a “Green New Deal”, to both curb global warming and salvage the world economy.
“This is a deal that would work for all nations, rich as well as poor,” he said, urging governments to set aside a chunk of the fiscal stimulus measures they are planning for investment in low-carbon technologies. Such investments would help fight climate change, create millions of green jobs and spur green growth, he argued.
The concept is not new. US President-elect Barack Obama had pledged during his presidential campaign to spend US$150 billion (S$215 billion) over 10 years to build a clean energy economy, one that will create five million jobs.
Some pundits say the call for a Green New Deal couldn’t have come at a worse time. With economies struggling with credit crunches, falling demand and rising unemployment, the green agenda is bound to drop off the radar. Plummeting oil prices are also blurring the economic case for investing in clean energy projects.
Yet there are also some voices making a powerful case for the Green New Deal. Mr Obama, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and French President Nicolas Sarkozy are among the world leaders who have embraced the idea.
Perhaps they recognise what Newsweek magazine said recently: “Simply put, the world needs a new economic driver”, given that the two pillars of the US economy – housing and financial services – are undergoing massive restructuring. What the Green New Deal offers is essentially a means of killing two birds with one stone – stimulating the economy by providing jobs, and laying the groundwork for a more efficient, low-carbon future.
What is striking, however, is the lack of a similar game plan in Asia. Asian governments have focused their economic stimulus on infrastructure-oriented programmes, say economists, as these tend to be good for long-term growth and generate a lot of employment.
But the same analysts also concede that Asian governments are “not that concerned about the environment”, especially since in the short-term, green infrastructure tends to be expensive.
That is a shame. The downturn would be a “good time to think about both survival and the long-term drive towards efficiency”, as Mr Simon Tay, former Nominated Member of Parliament and president of the Singapore Institute of International Affairs, puts it.
This is not to say Asian governments are not taking steps to green their economies. China has invested an estimated US$720 million in 2008 alone in clean technology.
Top politicians in Singapore and all over Asia have recognised the importance of moving towards more efficient, sustainable economies and have pledged money to that end.
But there’s still a disconnect between what is being said and what is done. In Asia, no one is clearly saying “let’s build green infrastructure” and announcing appropriate policies to drive the process.
Asia has always been a laggard compared to Europe with regard to environmental economic policies. Credit Suisse Asian chief economist Joseph Tan points to two reasons: lack of regulations, and lack of leadership. There is no Al Gore of the East pushing for a Green New Deal.
We need to realise that a green infrastructure would provide us with a competitive advantage. Lower fuel costs would only be one of the many benefits, says Mr Tay.
Economists like Mr Tan agree: There is no reason why economic goals should not be aligned with environmental goals, especially when the latest crisis presents us with an opportunity to do so.
Take Singapore as an example. Layoffs in the electronics sector are expected to total 1,000 in the last quarter of the year, NTUC deputy secretary-general Halimah Yacob disclosed last month. Companies like IM Flash, Adobe, HP, Motorola and Nokia have already announced layoffs, which have affected their Singapore- based operations.
Given how skills in the electronics and semiconductor industry are similar to those required for solar technology, an investment by the Government to beef up our solar energy infrastructure could provide jobs for such retrenched workers.
As the growth potential of the solar sector is massive, these jobs are also likely to have a multiplier effect, creating spin-offs in various industries, from construction to glass-making.
According to the International Energy Agency, greening the world’s energy infrastructure would require an investment of US$3.6 trillion in power plants and US$5.7 trillion in energy efficiency from 2010 to 2030. These investments correspond to 0.6 per cent of global GDP per year, but would bring fuel-cost savings of US$6 trillion.
Considering that easy oil will run out sooner or later, these are sobering statistics governments should consider – especially in Asia, as the region is an overall net energy importer.
The planet cannot afford for Asia to develop in the same way Europe and the US did, polluting its way into prosperity. The Green New Deal is the next global revolution and Asia will make history by embracing it.

by Jessica Cheam, The Straits Times, Dec 27 2008
THE year 2008 will be remembered as the year when oil prices reached historic highs – the highest at US$147 a barrel in July.
It will also be thought of as the year when humanity took major steps to wean itself off polluting fossil fuels and invest more [...]

by Jessica Cheam, The Straits Times, Dec 22 2008
Climate change and rising costs making more nations rethink energy source: Invensys
CONCERNS about climate change are prompting more Asian nations to explore nuclear power – a trend that could have direct implications for Singapore and benefits for some companies here.
Invensys Process Systems, a London-based firm that has [...]

by Jessica Cheam, The Sunday Times, December 21 2008

[small change] In these volatile times, where is our money safe and where do you begin to look?

One night three months ago, when I was in Hong Kong on a work assignment, my mother rang me up.
“I lost $100,000 of my retirement savings,” she told me, her voice trembling.
My initial reaction was one of disbelief.
You’re joking right, I asked her.
It’s just paper loss, right?
Convinced that my mum was exaggerating her investment losses, I told her to wait for the economy to turn around.
No, it’s gone, she insisted.
It turned out she was right.
The hefty sum she had invested in the now infamous Minibond notes, which she bought from ABN Amro Bank just a year ago, is now as good as worthless, sucked into this void called the financial crisis whose magnitude seems to be growing by the day.
When I first heard the news, a flurry of questions ran through my mind: Why weren’t you more careful, didn’t you read the terms and conditions, didn’t you realise the risks involved? I interrogated her.
After all, the $100,000 was the result of decades of blood, sweat and tears. It was money painstakingly saved for her retirement from her job as a factory worker, slogging her way up to senior manager.
I felt sick to my stomach that I was powerless to prevent that money from vanishing from the face of the Earth, and that my mum, who’s 52, had to postpone her retirement for a few years – all due to Wall Street’s reckless ways.
She had meant to put the $100,000 in a fixed deposit account but ABN Amro’s sales staff convinced her that the Minibond notes were “exactly like fixed deposit” with a 5 per cent return, capital guaranteed. The rest is history.
But just a few months ago, whoever would have thought, much less my mum, that a 158-year-old institution like Lehman Brothers would collapse?
The day it filed for bankruptcy – Sept 15 – was also the day that symbolised the end of an era and the beginning of another: One of previously unimaginable uncertainty and volatility for investors, which makes investing now seem like a game of roulette.
These days, I’ve found myself asking questions such as: In these troubled times, where is our money safe? Is it worth investing at all? Where do you begin to look?
You might think putting it all in a bank and saving till the storm is over is the safest thing to do.
But even then, I know of people who felt their money was threatened when United States lending giant Citi ran into trouble last month. These people actually closed their Citi accounts and put their money in what they deemed were “safer” local banks.
In such unpredictable times, it’s anybody’s guess which big financial institution is going to fail next – and whose money it will take with it.
Already, the recession is spreading and US automakers have just been saved from complete breakdown by a lifeline on Friday. So amid all this grim news, I contemplated what my next financial “action plan” should be.
Should I just hibernate until the next upturn? Or venture like a brave soldier into the war zone that is the markets?
I know of a few courageous (or foolish) friends, who are riding on the volatility of equities, hoping to make a quick buck.
One has actually made a killing from repeatedly buying a property blue chip firm whenever it dips under $3, then selling it when it rebounds.
Even my mum, undeterred by her Minibond episode, seems determined to recoup her losses by dabbling in the market to earn a few thousand dollars here and there. “At least I’m making my own choices now, and not giving it to someone to lose it for me,” she reasoned.
I had tragically sunk most of my available funds into equities before the spectacular crash in August and failed to join the stampede out of the market. The only comfort I take out of this is that I know I’m not alone.
I thought about the choices of an investor in the current climate: With stocks looking so cheap, the temptation is to average down our investments, or invest in blue chips that are looking very attractive.
The problem is, nobody knows where the bottom is, whether stock prices would plunge further.
This is exacerbated by the fact that confidence in credible companies is being shaken, the latest being Wall Street grandee Bernard Madoff, who will go down in history as “the man who conned the world” in a US$50 billion (S$72 billion) scam.
Even if we buy blue chips today, are they really as infallible as they look?
As the financial crisis unfolds into a global economic one, even bets I had put on China and India funds – the only economies still growing, albeit at a much slower rate now – have been sliding in value.
So do I move them to safer funds? Or leave the money there?
So many questions and no easy answers. In my quest for some clarity, I turned to some financial experts for advice.
One of them told me that in these times, trying to make money in the next three to six months “is very, very tough”.
If you need the money, keep it, he said. If there’s any spare, the possibility of multiplying your money is there, but invest your money in batches – not all at once – and put it in quality companies.
For what is already invested, one needs to look at it fund by fund, stock by stock, relooking at the fundamentals.
If the stock is deteriorating, there’s no guarantee it won’t fall further – so get rid of it, at least you will get some money back.
If a company is backed by good fundamentals and a strong history of riding downturns, stick with it.
When things look up again – as they certainly will, it’s a matter of when – you’ll make your money back or at least break-even your investments, he added.
You could still consider government bonds, gold, fixed deposits and foreign currency investments.
The thing to remember, he said, is to assess your own risk appetite. You might want the returns, but can you take the risks?
I’ve asked myself this many times, and lately I’ve found my impulsive investing inclinations being tempered by something called practicality.
With home prices coming down, next year could be a good time to buy my first property – which brings me to the old adage, that investment is safest in “bricks and mortar”.
I’m sure there are good investment bargains out there, whether in stocks, funds or in homes. The prudent thing, I’ve learnt, is to exercise the utmost caution and map out every worst-case scenario that could happen with any investments you make, and read all the fine print.
I wish I could turn back time and give the Minibond investment my mum had made the same circumspection.
But it’s too late now.
It is a high price to pay, but an oversight both my mum – and I – will never make again.

by Jessica Cheam, The Straits Times, December 20 2008
Further falls expected as crisis continues
RECENT moves by oil-producing nations to slash output have failed to put the brakes on diving oil prices which sank to a new 41/2-year low of US$33.44 a barrel yesterday.
Analysts are not ruling out the prospect of prices as low as US$20 [...]

by Jessica Cheam, The Straits Times, December 19 2008
Supply over the next two years is a marked increase to meet demand
SMALLER flats are making a comeback, with the Housing Board (HDB) ramping up supply to around 4,000 over the next two years to meet surging demand.
It marks a dramatic turnaround for a style of flat [...]

I feel like Christmas has come early this year. Other than my company publishing our 2009 diaries in my fave colour (black and orange - yes, very frivolous I’ll admit that), I received some very good news today which will kickstart a very important environmental project for 2009.

The year looks very promising, and it’s not even started.

I’d like to appeal to readers of this site, to email me jcheamwork [at] gmail [dot] com if you have an environmental interest - whether you are a journalist, a freelance writer, someone who has a business related to the environment, an NGO or simply, a self-professed environmentalist. I have some ideas I could need your help with and you might find interesting!

Meanwhile, I have lots to write - on all sorts of issues: The Green New Deal, nuclear energy, an energy special, and some reports on the property market… all of which is making December quite a busy month.

Before everyone takes off, Happy Holidays from me!

by Jessica Cheam, The Straits Times, December 16 2008
1.5% fall, the first since 2001, reflects slowdown in world export markets
CONTAINER traffic through Singapore ports turned negative last month for the first time in recent years, as stark a sign as any of the plunge in global trade.
November’s container throughput was down 1.5 per cent year-on-year [...]