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The 10 million population number was always a planning parameter and not a target for Singapore, said former chief planner Liu Thai Ker.
In an interview with Chinese daily Lianhe Zaobao published on Friday (July 17), Mr Liu said sustainable development requires long-term planning.
If Singapore is to continue to preserve the quality of its landscape in spite of space and resource constraints, he said, it must plan on the basis of a large enough population.
He was responding to claims during the election hustings by the Singapore Democratic Party, that the Government plans to increase Singapore’s population to 10 million.
The SDP maintains that the 10 million figure was from a Straits Times report on remarks by Deputy Prime Minister Heng Swee Keat at a dialogue with Nanyang Technological University students in March last year.
The article said Mr Heng cited Mr Liu, who said in 2014 that Singapore should plan for 10 million people for it to remain sustainable in the long term.
Mr Heng had cited Mr Liu in his response to a question on the Government’s 2013 Population White Paper.
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