Rocks in the Republic

WE'RE already known for our strong economy, super gardens and stratospheric skyscrapers. The next gleaming emblem to be associated with Singapore? Diamonds. Not the ones dripping off socialites, but colourless, near-flawless sparklers that are grown in a lab. Earlier this week, a 200,000 sq ft facility - about the size of 15 Olympic-sized pools, was officially unveiled in Jurong. Started by Singapore-based company IIa Technologies, it is said to be the world's largest diamond greenhouse, and the company seems to have figured out the technology for growing colourless, high quality, Type IIa diamonds - stones that are colourless and have almost no impurities.

"Diamond growing as a concept has existed for a couple of centuries now," says Vishal Mehta, chief executive of IIa Technologies. "But most attempts to grow diamonds have resulted in low-quality stones which could be only used as abrasives or grit."

Mr Mehta, who hails from the fourth generation of a family in the jewellery business and grew up in Mumbai, met with the Economic Development Board back in 2005 and chose Singapore as a base due to its "economic environment, ability to nurture innovation, available talent pool and supportive business infrastructure".