Singapore, China sign agreements to spell out details on eco-city

Channel NewsAsia 1 Jul 08;

TIANJIN: Singaporean and Chinese officials have met for the third time to work on the Sino-Singapore Tianjin Eco-city project. The officials signed agreements on Tuesday, spelling out more details for the iconic eco-city.

The land for the project has been reclaimed and the administrative building is under construction. Now, both countries are ready to get down to the details – from the layout of buildings to the dimensions of roads, and even the number of trees.

Singapore's Senior Minister of State for National Development, Grace Fu, stressed on the importance of planning before execution.

"We are looking at schools, childcare centres, a hospital and community centres. These are some of the amenities that we will put in," she said.

Speaking to reporters following a site visit on Tuesday, Ms Fu said the next phase would focus on policy-related issues.

"If we were to introduce and encourage alternative energy, we have to look at some of the incentives we have to implement to support the development," she said.

Ms Fu and Mr Qiu Baoxing, vice-minister of China's Ministry of Housing and Rural-Urban Development, signed agreements on Tuesday, spelling out the roles and responsibilities of the Eco-City Administrative Committee.

Singapore's Tianjin Eco-city Investment Holdings – owned by Keppel Corporation – and the Tianjin Eco-City Investment and Development Company also signed a deal to kickstart the development of the eco-city.

The joint venture, called the Sino-Singapore Tianjin Eco-City Investment and Development Company, will have an initial capital of US$570 million.

Singapore will contribute half of the capital in cash, while its Tianjin partner will provide the land.

The ground-breaking ceremony of the landmark project was initially scheduled to be held in July, but it has been postponed to September after the Beijing Olympics as the Chinese government has been busy with reconstruction work following the Sichuan earthquake.

Officials said the project is progressing on schedule and the joint venture is expected to be up and running in two months.

Both countries plan to showcase their pet project and hold the ground-breaking ceremony during the World Economic Forum, which will be held in Tianjin in September.
- CNA/so

Tianjin eco-city to break ground in September
It will coincide with the World Economic Forum, to be held in the port city that month
Tracy Quek, Straits Times 2 Jul 08;

TIANJIN - SINGAPORE and China will unveil their new flagship Tianjin eco-city project before an international audience in September, when the 50-billion yuan (S$10 billion) venture will also hold its ground-breaking, officials said yesterday.

Tianjin hosts the World Economic Forum (WEF) that month, and there are plans to hold an exhibition during the event to showcase the eco-city, said Mr Cui Guangzhi, vice-chairman of the eco-city administrative committee which plans and oversees the project.

Singapore and Chinese officials are also exploring the possibility of a forum during the WEF, he added, where Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong and Tianjin Mayor Huang Xingguo will speak on the project - the biggest collaboration between the two countries since the Suzhou Industrial Park was launched in 1994.

Ms Grace Fu, Singapore's Senior Minister of State for National Development and Education, said the WEF is a good chance to 'showcase our contribution to building a township that is environmentally and ecologically-friendly'.

The eco-city's ground-breaking will also be timed to coincide with the WEF which runs from Sept 25 to 27, she said.

Originally scheduled for this month, Singapore agreed to push back the ground-breaking because the Chinese authorities have their hands full after the May 12 Sichuan earthquake and the Beijing Olympics next month.

However, despite the delay, 'the project is on schedule', said Ms Fu, who attended the project's third joint working committee meeting yesterday. Also present were Mr Qiu Baoxing, China's Housing and Rural-Urban Development vice-minister, and Tianjin officials.

The committee reviewed preliminary detailed plans for the first 3-sq-km start-up area. Built from scratch, the first phase will be ready in under five years, house up to 85,000 people, and include facilities like schools and a hospital.

Eventually, over the next 15 years, the eco-city will expand to 30 sq km and be home to 350,000 residents. It will boast a light rail system that will likely run above an 'eco-valley'.

Running from north to south through the heart of the city, the 'eco-valley' will be a lush green belt expected to be up to 100m wide, and stretch for up to 20km, said Mr Cui.

Yesterday, both sides also signed three agreements, including one between the project builders - a Singapore consortium led by Keppel Corporation, and a Chinese consortium led by Tianjin TEDA Investment Holdings - on the formation of a joint venture (JV) company to develop the project mooted by SM Goh in April last year.

The JV company, called the Sino-Singapore Tianjin Eco-City Investment and Development Company, will have an initial registered capital of four billion yuan, to be equally contributed by the Singapore and Chinese consortiums.

The Singapore group will contribute cash, while the Chinese side will transfer land for the development to the JV company as its contribution in kind, according to a statement issued by Keppel yesterday.

Tianjin Eco-City project kicks off with 4b yuan JV
Lynette Khoo, Business Times 2 Jul 08;

THE Tianjin Eco-City pro-ject kicked off yesterday with the inking of agreements for the formation of a joint venture to develop it and the formalising of commercial terms for the project.

Singapore Tianjin Eco-City Investment Holdings (STEC) - fully owned by Keppel Corp - signed an agreement with Tianjin Eco-City Investment and Development Co (TEC) to incorporate the joint-venture company in China.

To be known as Sino-Singapore Tianjin Eco-City Investment and Development Co Ltd, this joint venture - which will act as the master-developer of the eco-city - will have an initial registered capital of four billion yuan (S$794 million) to be equally contributed by STEC and TEC.

TEC will transfer land for the development as its contribution in-kind while STEC will contribute in cash.

Keppel is in the process of seeking international investors to co-invest in STEC. So far, the Qatar Investment Authority has entered into a memorandum of understanding to accept Keppel's invitation to take a 10 per cent stake in STEC. Keppel intends to maintain an initial equity interest of around 50 per cent in STEC.

The eco-city - to be developed in Tianjin on a land area of about 30 sq km - is the biggest collaboration between Singapore and China since the Suzhou Industrial Park project in 1994.

It aims to promote green-living - 'a socially harmonious, environmentally friendly and resource-efficient area that can serve as a practical model of sustainable development'.

The joint venture will also sell land plots to third parties for development to accelerate the progress of the project and achieve design variety.

An initial start-up area of about 3 sq km will be transferred by TEC to the joint-venture company to kick-start the development and the remaining land area will be transferred, in phases, by end-2018.

STEC and TEC will jointly manage the joint-venture company, with rights for an equal number of directors on the board. The CEO will be appointed by STEC and the chairman by TEC.

Yesterday, a commercial agreement between the joint-venture company and the Tianjin's Eco-City Administrative Committee (ECAC) was also inked, setting out the basis of cooperation. ECAC will, among other things, undertake the construction of the infrastructure in the eco-city and will consider granting incentives to the joint venture.

The Eco-City Joint Working Committee met yesterday in Tianjin to discuss proposed changes to the master plan following a public consultation in China and preliminary plans of the start-up area.

A second supplementary agreement on the eco-city formalising the roles, powers and responsibilities of the ECAC was signed by Grace Fu, Singapore's Senior Minister of State for National Development and Education, and Qiu Baoxing, Chinese Vice-Minister of the Ministry of Housing and Rural-Urban Development.

In May, this project was given an official estimated preliminary price tag of 50 billion yuan.