SINGAPORE – It may not come as a total surprise that Singapore’s fifth desalination plant has been awarded to a Singapore based company.
The Tuas Power – Singapore Technologies Marine Consortium (TP-STM) has been selected as the preferred bidder for the 137,000 m3/day seawater reverse-osmosis desalination plant to be located on Jurong Island.
National water agency PUB said a first year price of $0.91 per cubic metre was the “most competitive tariff” offered in the eight bids from three applications - TP-STM, Keppel Infrastructure Holdings and Sembcorp Utilities – SUEZ International Consortium.
As part of the project, desalinate water will be provided to PUB over a 25-year period from 2020 to 2045.
The desalination plant will be co-located with Tuas Power’s existing Tembusu Multi-Utilities Complex to “derive synergies in resources such as seawater intake and outfall structures, and energy from the in-plant generation facilities”.
Jurong Island will bring Singapore’s desalination development tally to six but it will also mean that 100 percent of the projects have been awarded to Singapore-based companies.
Home grown Singaporean company Hyflux delivered the nation's first two desalination projects – SingSpring and Tuaspring, while Singapore civil engineering company HSL is currently delivering the third.
Meanwhile Keppel Infrastructure, through its wholly-owned subsidiary, Marina East Water, signed the 25-year Water Purchase Agreement with PUB for the Keppel Marina East Desalination Plant in January 2017
Young Joo Chye, PUB’s director of engineering development and procurement, said: “Desalinated water is a key part of Singapore’s water supply portfolio. As a weather-independent source, it strengthens the reliability of our water supply against droughts. This fifth plant is part of our plans to expand desalination capacity to meet up to 30% of our future water needs in the long term.”
The desalination plant on Jurong Island is PUB’s seventh Design-Build-Own-Operate project between PUB and the private sector.
Desalination currently meets up to 25 percent of Singapore’s water demand but by 2060 is expected to provide as much as 85 percent of the nation’s water needs.
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