On the planned merger of four subsidiaries under Temasek Holdings and JTC Corp, SMU Vice President, Business Development and External Relations, Associate Professor of Finance Annie Koh said that it would give local enterprises “a second wind”, noting that when these companies took on projects, they usually engaged the services of many SMEs. Hence, SMEs should prepare to scale up to bigger projects. Associate Prof Koh said that in China, for instance, there would be opportunities to “build around” the second-tier cities, of which there were many with populations of slightly more than five million. She added that China wanted to make other cities sustainable too, so that workers could work and live there.