Maria Siow, Channel NewsAsia 27 Sep 08;
TIANJIN: With initial progress underway at the China-Singapore Tianjin Eco-City project, Singapore Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong says what needs to be done is for policy measures to be either tweaked or put in place.
While saying that Singapore had chosen the right site for the bilateral flagship project, Mr Goh acknowledged that the challenge right now lies in attracting investors.
Mr Goh said his visit to the Tianjin Eco-City site allowed him to visualize what the area would soon look like - a place where residents enjoy a good and leisurely lifestyle, alongside vibrant economic activities such as financial services, research and development, and education.
Mr Goh said he is overwhelmed by the scale of China's vision, the boldness and the determination of the Chinese in realizing the Tianjin Eco-City dream.
To get the project going, Mr Goh said what is important is to put in place incentives and remove restrictions.
He said, "There are three harmonies we're talking about, people with people, well we can achieve that. But people with environment, that's in fact the whole purpose of the eco-city, we can achieve that.
“So the challenge will be people and the economy... we have some ideas on how to attract the activities that we want, financial services, research and development, education, but in the end, can we attract them to come over here, that's the challenge for us."
Agreeing, Senior Minister of State for National Development Grace Fu said the eco-city must have more than just a pro-environment living area.
She said, "I think increasingly the challenge is to be economically competitive as well. So I think it's now time to re-focus on the policy side of it, how to make this place attractive to investors, and to create jobs for the people here."
Turning the Tianjin Eco-City from dream to reality involves more than just the physical dimensions. It also involves the software of ensuring the city's long term sustainability and viability, and having endorsement from China's highest leadership might just be the extra touch that is needed to distinguish the Singapore flagship project from other similar eco-cities in China.
Mr Goh also attended the opening plenary session of the World Economic Forum.
At the session, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao noted that in view of the global financial crisis, China's greatest contribution to the global economy would be to ensure that it remains economically vibrant.
Turning to the recent milk powder scandal, Mr Wen said that China will revamp the country's entire food industry so as to ensure greater trust and credibility in Chinese products.
- CNA/yt
Top leaders from Singapore and Beijing break ground for eco-city
Tracy Quek, Straits Times 29 Sep 08;
TIANJIN: After 17 months of painstaking preparation and planning, Singapore and China yesterday began construction of their flagship eco-city, with a ground-breaking ceremony attended by top leaders from both countries.
Singapore's Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong and Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao were at the event to launch the project, which both sides hope will show the way forward for other environmentally-friendly cities in China.
The two leaders, who first endorsed the bilateral venture last April in Beijing, were all smiles when they met for brief talks at the eco-city's administrative building before the ceremony.
'I remember that it was little more than a year ago when the idea was just brewing. From then to its implementation, the progress has been very fast,' said Mr Wen. The Chinese Premier, who signed a formal agreement setting the project in motion with Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong last November in Singapore, yesterday called the project a new highlight in bilateral ties.
The development of the city will be overseen by the Sino-Singapore Tianjin Eco-City Investment and Development Company, a 50-50 joint venture between a Chinese consortium led by Tianjin TEDA Investment Holding Company and a Singapore group led by the Keppel Group.
In his address, Singapore's National Development Minister Mah Bow Tan said the project was 'timely and significant' coming at a time when 'the world faces serious challenges in balancing protection of the natural environment with the pursuit of economic growth'.
SM Goh and Mr Wen, along with senior officials including Tianjin party secretary Zhang Gaoli, the city's Mayor Huang Xingguo and Minister of Housing and Urban-Rural Construction Jiang Weixin - 'broke ground' with shovels as confetti rained on a specially constructed stage.
Work will now begin on the first 4 sq km plot, an area roughly the size of Jurong East Town in Singapore. The start-up area will be developed in three stages over the next three to five years.
And within 15 years, at a cost of around 50 billion yuan (S$10 billion), the eco-city will spread across a 30 sq km site. About 350,000 people will eventually live in the township, which is intended to show how eco-friendly living can be balanced with vibrant economic activity.
Speaking to reporters yesterday at the end of his five-day visit to China, SM Goh said the global financial crisis would not affect the construction of the project.
He disclosed, however, that he had asked Premier Wen to consider lifting restrictions on offshore loans for the project. This would make it easier to bring in, for example, potential partners from the Middle East, who 'may want to have their own funding from outside'.
Mr Goh said Mr Wen's presence at the ceremony showed the importance of the project to Beijing's top leaders at a time when the world is looking at the impact of China's growth on the environment.
'If China is being criticised for not taking into consideration the environment, China can point to one eco-city which it is embarking on, and later on to many other such cities,' added Mr Goh. Singapore, in turn, gains from stronger political ties.
And Mr Goh said there should be no fear of competition from other eco-city projects being built elsewhere in China, although he said the aim should still be to make this one the best. 'In the end are we special, and the most outstanding? I think let's try to do that,' he said.
Mr Goh left China for home yesterday.
About eco-city in northern China
Straits Times 28 Sep 08;
Area: 30 sq km at the northern end of Tianjin's Binhai New Area.
Time-frame: Developed over next 15 years to house 350,000.
Current work: Building begins on a 4 sq km start-up area to house 85,000 people.
Plan: Three stages over next three to five years starting with Stage One, a 110ha plot. Infrastructure to be completed late next year.
Features: Residences,a business park, schools, clinics, shopping malls, parks and a light rail.
Oversight: Joint venture, the Sino-Singapore Tianjin Eco-City Investment and Development Company, will oversee overall development. Keppel Group heads the Singapore consortium.
The ‘intangibles’ that matter
Projects like these will help keep Singapore economy flying: SM
Lin Yanqin, Today Online 29 Sep 08;
FOR most Singaporeans, the transformation of this vast expanse of prawn farms and salt flats into a thriving green city may not mean much — but projects such as these in China are vital to Singapore’s future.
“For example, without embarking on such projects, I don’t think China will consider a Singapore-China FTA (free trade agreement),” said Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong, after the ground-breaking ceremony of the 50 billion yuan ($10.4 billion) Sino-Singapore Tianjin Eco-city project with Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao.
“There is already an Asean-China FTA ... Why should China pay attention to Singapore and sign a separate FTA?They have made concessions for Singapore because we are helping them in certain areas, so these are the intangibles leading to tangible results for Singapore.”
And building up this China wing stands us in good stead in times like these, with the global economy slowing and its financial markets in turmoil.
“We are, of course, affected, but not so terribly affected,” said Mr Goh. “China is not our only wing, we are also actively building up an Indian wing, because an aeroplane cannot fly on one wing alone. This is where we hope to keep Singapore’s economy flying.”
Wrapping up his five-day visit to China, the Senior Minister highlighted Mr Wen’s presence at the ceremony. “China is a very big place, to get the premier to come down for the ground-breaking for a 30-sq-km project ... shows the importance of the project to him and to the central government,” said Mr Goh, who had first raised the idea of an eco-city with Mr Wen 17 months ago and was visiting the site for the first time.
With the eco-city to develop over the next ten to 15 years, such projects give future Singapore leaders the chance at a sustained relationship with China,Mr Goh added.
A Middle-EastERN partner in Tianjin?
He was confident the market turbulence would not affect the long-term progress of the Tianjin project, as issues such as demand for office space would only arise five to 15 years down the road.
Mr Goh has suggested to Mr Wen that China open up to offshore financing.
“China is fearful of a flood of funds from the rest of the world and putting pressure on inflation,” he said.
“But we are trying to bring another partner,probably from the Middle East, into the project, and of course, these partners would like to offer equity financing plus perhaps loans. We are also thinking of some Islamic banking and financing for certain aspects of this project.”
In future, there could also be third-party developers on the land who would want to bring in their own funding from outside, he noted.
The Chinese were “very flexible”, he added, and the Tianjin government would put up a case for such offshore financing.
Did the three to five year development deadline for the Start-Up Area seem tight? Mr Goh said it was important to show “a beginning”, to keep interest going.
Like Mr Wen, he was amazed by the speed at which the eco-city has progressed.
Infrastructure for stage one of the Start-Up Area — which will have residences, offices, and amenities — is slated for completion by the end of next year.
The 2,000-odd residents of the land on which the eco-city will be built, will be relocated within the city where they can find jobs.
With Tianjin located in the Bohai region — earmarked by China as the next economic centre after Shenzhen and the Pudong New Area in Shanghai —Mr Goh was confident the eco-city was well placed for success.
Also present yesterday was National Development Minister Mah Bow Tan, Acting Manpower Minister Gan Kim Yong, and Minister of State for National Development Lee Yi Shyan.
