11 February – The Environmental Pollution Control Act is passed to replace the Clean Air Act, giving the Ministry of the Environment (ENV) more powers to deal with pollution.[6]
26 March – The Civil Defence Academy is officially opened.[10]
31 March – Lorong Halus Dumping Ground is closed.[11]
April
1 April –
Semakau landfill begin operations after the closure of the Lorong Halus Dumping Ground.
The Building and Construction Authority is formed from a merger of Construction Industry Development Board and Public Works Department's Building Control Division to develop and regulate Singapore's construction industry and ensure safe buildings, with some functions transferred to the Urban Redevelopment Authority. On the same day, PWD Corporation (present-day CPG Corporation) is formed from a corporatisation.[12]
11 May – The Ministry of Education announced a new Programme for Rebuilding and Improving Existing schools (PRIME) to upgrade or rebuild existing schools, ensuring all schools have access to modern and conducive learning environments.[14]
17 May – The Monetary Authority of Singapore announced rules that liberalise commercial banking and help take local banks to new heights. They include a five-year liberalisation programme with new Qualifying Full Bank (QFB) licences, increase the number of restricted banks here and greater flexibility for offshore banks' wholesale business, all local banks having Nominating Committees to strengthen corporate governance and the lifting of 40 percent limit on foreigners' shareholding in banks.[15][16]
20 May – The North East MRT line (NEL) and the Sengkang and PunggolLRT lines are awarded to Singapore Bus Service (present-day SBS Transit) to foster competition with SMRT, the first rail lines to be operated by SBS. In addition, SMRT and Trans-Island Bus Services (TIBS) will merge. As a result, SBS will take over bus operations in Sengkang and Punggol from TIBS with TIBS taking over bus services from SBS in Choa Chu Kang and Bukit Batok.[17][18]
30 May - Causeway Point shopping mall in Woodlands is officially opened.
21 July – DataOne (D1) is awarded a licence to run an ISP network in Singapore, thus making D1 the fourth operator after SingNet, Pacific Internet and Cyberway. The ISP commenced operations in November.[25]
25 July – Transfer of bus services 864, 865 and 866 to SBS, and transfer of bus service 190 to TIBS.
14 September 1999 – In the first case of kidnapping by ransom for over a decade, 33-year-old Vincent Lee Chuan Leong and his two Chinese accomplices Zhou Jian Guang and Shi Song Jing kidnapped a 14-year-old schoolgirl for a ransom of S$330,000. All three were arrested, and sentenced to life imprisonment.[33][34]
18 October – The merger between TIBS and SMRT fails to go through.[36]
20 October – The Monetary Authority of Singapore awards four foreign banks with Qualifying Full Bank (QFB) licences, which are ABN Amro, Banque Nationale de Paris (present day BNP Paribas), Citibank, and Standard Chartered. Another eight banks are awarded Qualifying Offshore Bank (QOB) licences. In addition, eight new Restricted Banks (RB) are announced, with 4 RBs to start operations immediately and another 4 more from 1 October 2000. MAS will eventually award up to 20 RB licences compared to 18 previously after a high demand from banks.[37]
22 October – ST Engineering announces the acquisition of Chartered Industries of Singapore through ST Auto, now called ST Kinetics. The acquisition will help make ST Engineering a successful world-class engineering company.[39]
The Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore is launched from a merger between the National Computer Board and the Telecommunication Authority of Singapore to take charge of Singapore's infocomm sector.
The Singapore Exchange (SGX) is formed from the merger of Stock Exchange of Singapore (SES), Singapore International Monetary Exchange (Simex) and Securities Clearing and Computer Services Pte Ltd (SCCS),[45] first announced on 4 August.[46]
