PUB awards contract for NEWater plant at Changi to Sembcorp

Channel NewsAsia 18 Jan 08;

With the addition of this new plant, NEWater will meet 30 per cent of Singapore's current water needs by 2010.

SINGAPORE: PUB has awarded the contract for the fifth and largest NEWater plant at Changi to Sembcorp Utilities.

Under this Design-Build-Own-Operate agreement, Sembcorp will supply NEWater to PUB over a 25-year-old period from 2010 to 2035.

The Changi NEWater Plant which will be constructed within the Changi Water Reclamation Plant, and will have a production capacity of 50 million gallons per day.

Initially, it will have a capacity of 15 million gallons per day in 2009, which will be ramped up to 50 million gallons per day by 2010.

Its first-year price is S$0.29966 per cubic metre.

With the addition of this new plant, NEWater will meet 30 per cent of Singapore's current water needs by 2010.

The Changi NEWater Plant is the second NEWater project by the private sector.

In tandem with the construction of Changi NEWater Plant, PUB is also expanding the NEWater network of pipelines.

There are 20 tenders, worth over S$400 million, for the laying of 87 km of NEWater pipelines.

The completed pipeline will run from Changi NEWater Plant to Jurong, Tuas, Jurong Island and Sentosa. It will also be linked to existing NEWater pipelines in the Bedok, Seletar, Kranji and Ulu Pandan clusters. - CNA/ac

SembCorp to build Singapore's largest Newater facility
Shobana Kesava, Straits Times 19 Jan 08;

SEMBCORP Industries has been selected to build, own and operate Singapore's fifth - and largest - Newater plant in Changi for about $180 million.

When the Changi plant is fully operational in 2010, the national water agency PUB expects Newater to provide 30 per cent of Singapore's water needs. Of the balance, about 60 per cent will come from reservoirs and Johor, and 10 per cent from desalination.

The tender award to SembCorp was made yesterday by PUB, which said SembCorp offered the most competitive bid out of six firms that participated by agreeing to produce Newater for 29.966 cents per cu m in the first year.

SembCorp will supply Newater to PUB for 25 years from 2010 till 2035.

SembCorp already owns and operates 14 water facilities across the globe - on Singapore's Jurong Island, and in China, Britain and the United Arab Emirates.

When the Changi Newater plant is completed, SembCorp is expected to produce about four million cu m of water per day around the world.

SembCorp said its Changi Newater investment would be funded using a mix of bank borrowings and internal sources.

This is the second Newater project that the private sector has undertaken. The first was the Keppel Seghers Ulu Pandan Newater plant, which opened in March last year.

When fully operational, the Changi Newater plant will produce 228,000 cu m of Newater a day. This will make it the largest producer of recycled water, overtaking Ulu Pandan's output of 145,500 cu m a day.

Like Keppel Segher, SembCorp will design, build, own and operate the plant.

One innovative feature will be to have main process facilities on the rooftop of the water reclamation facility to save costs, PUB director Moh Wung Hee said

'The design saves on land costs and on laying long pipes to feed the treated used water from the reclamation plant to the Newater plant,' Mr Moh said.

The Changi water reclamation plant occupies 55ha - about 5.5 times the size of VivoCity. It will clean water to international standards before most of it is discharged into the Straits of Singapore and the rest is fed to the Newater plant.

Developed by CPG Corp, the facility has been designed to accommodate the Newater plant.

By the time of the plant's completion in 2010, PUB expects to have spent over $400 million to expand its network of Newater pipelines by 87km.

The completed pipeline will run from Changi Newater plant to Jurong, Tuas, Jurong Island and Sentosa. It will also link to existing Newater pipelines in the Bedok, Seletar, Kranji and Ulu Pandan clusters. Fifteen of a total of 20 expected tenders have been called since September last year.

Sembcorp bags $180m NEWater plant contract
Matthew Phan, Business Times 19 Jan 08;
Singapore's 5th and largest unit will produce 50m gallons a day by 2010

SEMBCORP Industries has secured a bid to design, build, own and operate what is to become Singapore's fifth and largest NEWater plant.

The plant in Changi will cost about $180 million and will produce 50 million gallons per day (mgd) of NEWater when fully operational by 2010, Sembcorp said yesterday.

PUB, the national water agency, said that Sembcorp won the bid in an open tender, having submitted the most competitive offer among six other companies.

'The tender attracted bids from established local and international companies with good track records in the water business,' said PUB.

Sembcorp's bid has a first-year price of $0.29966 per cubic metre of NEWater, it said.

This is the second NEWater project by the private sector. The first is the Keppel Seghers Ulu Pandan NEWater Plant, which has a capacity of 32 mgd.

The private sector is also responsible for Singapore's only desalination plant, the Singspring plant, which was built by Hyflux and is now held by CitySpring Infrastructure Trust.

The Changi plant will have an initial capacity of 15 mgd by 2009, which will be ramped up to 50 mgd by 2010.

Sembcorp will then supply NEWater to the PUB for 25 years from 2010 to 2035.

It will build the main facilities on the roof-top of the existing Changi Water Reclamation Plant, to save on land costs and additional piping costs.

The investment will be funded through a mix of bank borrowings and internal sources. It will have no material impact on earnings or net tangible assets per share of Sembcorp for the current financial year.

Sembcorp said that it would be managing a total of some four million cubic metres per day of water around the world when the Changi project is complete.

The utilities business, which includes water, contributed 43 per cent to Sembcorp's group turnover and 53 per cent to earnings for the first nine months of 2007.

The group currently operates the Fujairah Independent Water and Power Plant in the UAE, one of the world's largest desalination plants.

Other water management services to industrial customers globally include water recycling and treatment, and the supply of high-grade industrial water, demineralised water and cooling water.

Along with the Changi NEWater Plant, PUB is also expanding the NEWater network of pipelines, which will run from Changi NEWater Plant to Jurong, Tuas, Jurong Island and Sentosa. Fifteen of the 20 tenders have been called since September 2007.