The Economic Downturn Effects on I.T Projects in Singapore Case Study - 1

The Economic Downturn Effects on I.T Projects in Singapore - Case Study Example Beginning November 2008, global demand and investments in trade had been paralyzed and in turn had an adverse impact on several economic sectors in Singapore such as wholesale, retail, transport, and storage sectors. For instance, the manufacturing sector is estimated to have contracted by 3.7% in 2008 and is a bit better than the 5.8% contraction for the year 2007 (Bradley 2009). The services and construction sectors also registered a slower rate of growth by as much as 5.3% (the figures were an incredible 17.3% in 2007) (Bradley 2009). Laying a primary emphasis on mitigating job losses, the government of Singapore responded to the crisis by adopting several measures. Amongst them, one of the most significant initiatives implemented included a job-retraining program aimed at improving the professional skills of workers and to reduce the burden on businesses by paying for related expenses incurred over job training. In several other cases, the government also closed down several proj ects or instructed business to do so if it felt that they were to resource intensive or hampering the reversal of the crisis (include author). A broad review of related literature and news reports (include authors) suggests that the IT industry was generally favored and supported by the government during this period of economic recession and restructuring. For example, a tender to provide passive fiber grid for the next generation of the national broadband network in Singapore was awarded in September 2008. Decisions like these clearly indicate a high level of trust and commitment on the part of the Singapore government to support the IT sector and use of IT services despite and signifies the relevance of IT as an instrument for emerging out of the crisis. Further, a passive ICT infrastructure was to be implemented in Singapore by Netcom OpenNet to deliver speeds of 1Gbps and beyond. The government committed itself towards extending a grant of S$750 million to the contracted company so as to support the network implementation (James 2009) in the hope of opening up several opportunities along the way for many other I.T proj ects.