Best of our wild blogs: 30 Jun 10

First trip to Terumbu Pempang Darat
from wild shores of singapore

Sunda Pygmy Woodpecker catches a larva
from Bird Ecology Study Group

Bad news from Cat Tien
from Rhinomania

Raffles Museum Treasures: Binturong
from Lazy Lizard's Tales

Read more!

Energy self-sufficiency not possible: MM

Business Times 30 Jun 10;

(SINGAPORE) Singapore could well achieve self-sufficiency in water by 2061, but energy self-sufficiency is not possible, said Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew yesterday.

'There's no chance of that,' said Mr Lee, who was speaking at a dialogue session held as part of the ongoing World Cities Summit and Singapore International Water Week. He was responding to a question about whether Singapore could become energy independent eventually.

Right now, Singapore uses natural gas to generate 80 per cent of its electricity, with the bulk of it coming from Indonesia. Recent media reports have said that Indonesia wants to renegotiate the terms of its natural gas supply contract with Singapore.

Yesterday, Mr Lee said that Singapore's 'neighbours' are thinking of upping the price of gas exports despite a contract being in place. To ensure a steady supply, Singapore is building a liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal and will buy and store gas from Qatar.

Singapore is also looking at generating more electricity from renewable resources but faces obstacles, Mr Lee said.

Using wind power, he said, is 'out'. And while using solar power is possible, it is not economical at the moment to buy solar panels for use on a large scale, he said.

Nuclear energy, on the other hand, could destroy the whole island if something goes wrong, Mr Lee said.

He added jokingly: 'We are tossing around the idea of buying a submarine nuclear generator which we can put on a floating platform, and if it leaks, we take it out into the Pacific (Ocean).'

Answering a question on the most difficult problem he faced while transforming Singapore from a Third World to a First World city, Mr Lee said the key challenge was getting people to support the government's policies.

When Singapore first attained independence, it was a 'very untidy city, with litter, filth, people urinating on the streets,' he said.

'To stop all that, to have a litter- free country and no vandalism and no graffiti, you need discipline,' Mr Lee said.

'We had graffiti experts from England and Switzerland who came here to try to break our laws. Well, we caught one of them and he has to pay the penalty. It's harsh, but that is the way to keep it as it is,' he said, drawing some laughs from the audience.

Singapore to buy natural gas from Qatar
Rachel Chang Straits Times 30 Jun 10;

SINGAPORE will be importing liquefied natural gas (LNG) from Qatar and storing it at a facility currently under construction on Jurong Island.

Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew confirmed the country's plans to diversify its gas import sources, currently dominated by Malaysia and Indonesia, during a dialogue session yesterday.

The partnership with Qatar, the world's biggest natural gas producer, comes amid uncertainties with the current suppliers, said Mr Lee.

'We are buying gas from our neighbours; they are thinking of upping the price in spite of the contract,' he said, speaking to an audience of 700 senior officials and delegates in town for the Singapore International Water Week and the World Cities Summit.

Earlier this month, Indonesian government officials, citing their country's domestic needs, announced a decision to renegotiate Indonesia's gas export contracts with Singapore.

The contracts in place expire in 2021. It is unclear if their terms allow for a renegotiation in price.

Mr Lee's remarks affirm speculation of a Singapore-Qatar partnership, which began last November when the Gulf emirate's Qatar Petroleum International bought into the Petrochemical Corporation of Singapore.

The $1.5 billion LNG terminal on Jurong Island, due to be completed in 2013, will be able to store more than six million tonnes of LNG per annum.

Mr Lee gave a characteristically blunt assessment of Singapore's energy needs during the half hour session, saying that 'there's no chance' of Singapore being energy-independent.

'Wind is out,' he said, but 'solar is possible'. With the present state of technology, however, blanketing Singapore with solar panels in the manner some Chinese cities have experimented with would not make economic sense, he said.

'I admire China's solar panels,' said Mr Lee, in response to a question posed by a Chinese official. 'I sent a note down to our environment ministry and said, why not buy solar panels from China?'

He was told that China was heavily subsidising its production and installation of solar panels, because 'they are determined to lead the world in research and development of solar technology'.

Without the subsidies, however, the panels were an uneconomic purchase. 'Singapore is a small country, we always calculate costs and benefits. So we are waiting for your solar panels to get cheaper before buying them,' he said with a laugh.

Another possibility the Government is 'tossing around' is a small nuclear generator on a floating platform out at sea, Mr Lee said.

He was responding to a New Zealander delegate who had asked if he saw a nuclear-free world as a possibility.

Mr Lee said it was a possibility for New Zealand, which was 'especially favoured' with sources of renewable energy like powerful winds and tides.

But for Singapore, which was 'not so lucky', all options had to be explored, he said.

'Discipline got S'pore into the First World': MM
Zakir Hussain Straits Times 30 Jun 10;

LAUGHTER rippled around a ballroom last night as Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew drew on a recent security breach at an MRT train depot to illustrate how Singapore keeps itself free of litter, vandalism and graffiti.

'We had graffiti experts from Switzerland and from England who came here to show that they can break our laws,' he said to chuckles at a dialogue with delegates at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel.

'Well, we caught one of them and he has to pay the penalty.

'It's harsh, but that's the way to keep it as it is,' he replied to a question from a visiting don.

Swiss national Oliver Fricker, an IT consultant working in Singapore, was convicted last Friday of breaking into

SMRT's Changi depot last month and spray-painting a train.

He was sentenced to five months' jail and three strokes of the cane.

His accomplice, Briton Dane Alexander Lloyd, is still at large.

The question posed to MM Lee came from water management expert Asit Biswas, a visiting professor at the Lee Kuan Yew School (LKY School) of Public Policy.

He had asked the Minister Mentor what his most difficult problem was in taking Singapore from Third World to First World and how he solved it.

Mr Lee said: 'The problem is to get your people to support the policies which you have implemented.

'The technology is there, you can buy it, you can do it yourself, but if your people do not cooperate and fit into the First World structure, it will not succeed.

'It depends on the amount of discipline they are prepared to observe.'

He noted that Singapore used to be a very untidy city, with 'litter, filth, people urinating in the streets'.

'To stop all that, to have a litter-free city and no vandalism, no graffiti, you need discipline.'

Earlier, LKY School dean Kishore Mahbubani, who chaired the dialogue, asked Mr Lee what the key policies were that made Singapore a developed country.

Mr Lee said he set out to create a First World oasis in a Third World region.

Building infrastructure was not as difficult as changing behaviour, he added.

'When you move people from a shanty where they have a hole in the ground for a toilet, to a high-rise with a toilet and a flush, it takes some time to get them not to bring their chickens and ducks with them,' he said.

'But we succeeded, partly by education through their children, TV, exhortations from the leaders and they knew that unless we behave like a First World nation... we would perish,' he added.

But the most difficult thing, he said, was to industrialise without polluting the island.

Careful attention to the environment, growth in industry, services and logistics, and a resilient population which responded to the challenge of the day got Singapore to where it is today, he added.

MM Lee on
Straits Times 30 Jun 10;

SINGAPORE'S WATER STRATEGY

'Let me explain what we do to conserve every drop of rain from the sky.

'First, we sewered up the whole island so that no sullage water, no industrial water goes into the rivers or into the drains.

'Second, we made sure that our pipes underground carrying water do not leak - the average leakage is 8 to 10 per cent. We found a way to put in something like a stent - you push it in to expand it, and it blocks the leakage without having you get down the sewer.

'So first, save your water. Next, don't pollute it. Third, collect it. Fourth, reclaim it.

'You can reclaim your water, it costs half the price of desalinating the water with membrane technology.

'The day we became separate from Malaysia, we knew one day they would squeeze us. We set out systematically to exploit every drop of water from the sky. So today, three quarters of the island is a catchment. By the next decade, the whole island will be a catchment.'

WHAT NEXT FOR SINGAPORE?

'I'm not able to tell you what technologies will be discovered; what the opportunities are that will come our way. If you had asked me 50 years ago, could I have imagined today's Singapore, I would have said no.

'We only had a rolling plan, every five years... We started as a seaport, we had an advantage as the point you must pass between the Indian Ocean and the Pacific. (We also became an airport) When the aeroplanes came, they could stop at any place. In fact Bangkok would have been a better place. But we have maintained our hub status, to be a better airport than in any part of the world.

'How would I see this place 10 years from now - you got to ask the present generation. They know better. I'm in my 80s and not very good at high tech, and that is what is going to change the world.'

Read more!

Sewage helps Singapore shake off water shackles

Martin Abbugao Yahoo News 29 Jun 10;

SINGAPORE (AFP) – When Singapore said it would not renew a water-supply pact with Malaysia the news hardly caused a ripple in a nation where technology is now flowing through the taps.

In the past, the idea would have seemed dangerous in a resource-starved island that bought almost all its water from its bigger neighbour.

But with Singapore steadily approaching self-sufficiency and exporting technology to recycle sewage into drinking water, there is a growing sense of confidence that it is less vulnerable to Malaysian water pressure.

"This could mean that the Singapore public is no longer as exercised by water security," the pro-government Straits Times said in an editorial after the April announcement.

"Gradually shedding dependence on Malaysia is high on Singaporeans' wish list, if only to eliminate a source of neighbourly conflict."

Singapore has two accords to buy raw water from Malaysia, which evicted the island from a federation in 1965. The first will expire next year -- and will not be renewed -- and the second will lapse in 2061.

Singapore is confident that by then it will be able to supply all of its water needs if necessary -- a major boost to its strategic security.

"Because of our sustained efforts, we have come a long way in water self-sufficiency," said former prime minister Goh Chok Tong.

Cutting dependence on Malaysian water would help ease tensions because "whenever there were serious bilateral disagreements, some Malaysian politicians would use water as leverage to pressure us to compromise in their favour," he said.

Technology has played a vital role in Singapore's dramatic success in turning a weakness into an opportunity to not only become self-sufficient in water but make billions exporting the technology as well.

The city-state is currently hosting the annual Singapore International Water Week, which gathers the world's top experts on the subject.

"Water, the foundation of life, is at the heart of a daily crisis faced by millions of the world's people," said Noeleen Heyzer, executive secretary of the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific.

She told the conference about 1.1 billion people worldwide have no access to clean water and more than two billion lack basic access to sanitation.

In May, Singapore opened its biggest and most advanced plant that purifies used water until it is fit for humans to drink and for use in factories.

Water flushed from toilets and kitchen sinks is pushed through a series of membranes to remove impurities, producing an end product branded as NEWater that used to be ridiculed but is now widely accepted by the public.

The latest NEWater plant, built by state-linked SembCorp Industries and the fifth such facility in Singapore, can produce 228,000 cubic metres (50 million gallons) of ultra-clean water per day.

This is enough to fill 90 Olympic-size swimming pools, said the Public Utilities Board (PUB), the national water agency.

NEWater now accounts for 30 percent of the country's total water needs, and this is expected to rise to 50 percent by 2060, PUB said.

Desalinated water -- costlier to produce than reclaimed waste water -- now provides 10 percent of Singapore's needs, while local catchments and imported water from Malaysia account for the rest.

By 2060, desalinated water should account for up to 30 percent of water needs, PUB added.

SembCorp's facility is part of the sprawling Changi Water Reclamation Plant complex, capable of treating 800,000 cubic metres (176 million gallons) of used water before it is either flushed into the sea or further purified as NEWater.

A 48-kilometre (30-mile) underground tunnel that runs from Kranji in the city's northern suburbs feeds used water to the Changi reclamation plant on the eastern coast. The mega sewer is buried 20-50 metres underground.

Singapore has a separate system, including 7,000 kilometres (4,340 miles) of drainage, that directs rainwater into reservoirs.

At the Changi water reclamation complex a lift takes staff to a cavernous pump room deep below the surface, where powerful machines push the water to elaborate facilities on the ground level for treatment.

Yet there are no tell-tale signs, not even a faint smell, betraying the fact that the facility is a massive receptacle for dirty water flushed daily by the city's nearly five million residents.

"People are surprised that this is actually a water treatment facility. They don't really know what's underneath," Yong Wei Hin, an assistant director at the water reclamation plant, told AFP during a recent visit.

When Singapore hosted an Asia-Pacific leaders' summit in 2009, Chinese President Hu Jintao specifically requested a tour of the facility, said Yong.

Unlike treatment plants in the 1980s which emitted a foul smell because tanks were not covered, all outlets at the facility are tightly sealed and odours from by-products are neutralised before being released into the air.

Read more!

PUB calls tender for second desalination plant

Channel NewsAsia 30 Jun 10;

SINGAPORE : National water agency PUB on Wednesday called an open tender for the second and largest desalination plant to be built at Tuas.

To be completed by 2013, the plant will add close to 320,000 cubic metres (70 mgd) of desalinated water a day to the nation's water supply.

Following the completion of the fifth and largest NEWater plant at Changi last month, the new desalination plant is Singapore's latest water supply infrastructure project.

Like the first reverse-osmosis desalination plant at Tuas, the second plant will be constructed under a Design, Build, Own and Operate (DBOO) arrangement and utilise reverse osmosis technology.

PUB said increasing desalination capacity will further enhance the drought resilience of Singapore's water supply, and ensure reliability for Singapore's water users.

The successful bidder will enter into a 25-year water purchase agreement to supply desalinated water to PUB, commencing from mid 2013.

The water purchase agreement will set out the tariff structure, terms and conditions for the purchase of desalinated water.

The project is PUB's fourth DBOO project.

New water targets unveiled on Monday indicated desalination's bigger role in Singapore's water supply.

By 2060, Singapore plans to ramp up desalinated water capacity by almost 10 times so that the Fourth National Tap can meet at least 30 per cent of the water demand then. Water demand is expected to double to 760 mgd by 2060.

The tender for Singapore's second desalination plant will close on September 30. It is expected to be awarded in the first quarter of 2011.

There will be a project briefing and site show-around on July 15.

Potential bidders who would like to participate in this DBOO project can refer to the details available in Government Electronic Business (Gebiz). - CNA /ls

Big splash in the water tech sector
Major initiatives unveiled include tender for second desalination plant
Rachel Au-Yong Straits Times 1 Jul 10;

SINGAPORE International Water Week is making a big splash in the fast-growing water technology sector.

Several major initiatives were unveiled yesterday, including plans by consumer giant Procter & Gamble (P&G) to build a multi-million-dollar plant here to make water purification packets to help millions of needy people worldwide get fresh water.

Also, national water agency PUB put out to tender the building of Singapore's second water desalination plant. When completed by 2013, the larger plant will add 318,500 cubic metres of water a day to the nation's water supply.

Another key project is from Global Water Intelligence (GWI), an information service, which plans to set up a centre in Singapore to keep the burgeoning global water industry updated with vital data.

And five firms have been awarded a total of $6 million in research funds by a government agency to boost Singapore's status as a top water technology centre.

Hundreds of policymakers, industry leaders and other key players have gathered here this week for the event, which includes a vast range of activities.

Singapore aims to become a 'global hydro hub', drawing the biggest water companies here and pumping funds into water research. The environment and water sector is set to add $1.7 billion to economic output here and employ 11,000, mostly in skilled jobs, by 2015.

PUB said the new desalination plant will use a filtration method known as reverse osmosis to remove salt and other impurities from water.

Desalination - also known as Singapore's Fourth National Tap, along with catchment areas, water bought from Malaysia and Newater plants - is playing a bigger role here. Singapore plans to lift desalinated water capacity 10-fold to meet at least 30 per cent of demand by 2060. Water demand is expected to double to 3.4 billion cubic metres by then.

The tender will close on Sept 30 and is set to be awarded early next year. The successful bidder will enter into a 25-year water purchase deal to supply desalinated water to PUB, starting from mid-2013.

Looking further afield, P&G says PUR water packets to be made at its planned new Tuas plant, will provide 200 million purification packets a year to adults and children worldwide - able to produce up to two billion litres of fresh water.

The 'multi-million-dollar, non-profit investment' will employ nearly 50 Singapore staff, said P&G associate director for Asean external relations Anthony Rose.

The sachets have been used in disaster relief work, such as Haiti's recent earthquake, and in places lacking fresh water.

Singapore was chosen for the plant - due to start operations in 2012 - given its 'advanced technological base', as making the sachets requires precision, said the head of P&G's Children's Safe Drinking Water Programme, Dr Greg Allgood.

The GWI information office will be set up at PUB's WaterHub at Toh Guan Road East. 'We have been watching the opportunity in the water sector drift eastwards, and the global financial crisis has accelerated this,' said managing director Christopher Gasson in a statement yesterday.

The WaterHub is home to other renowned water-related organisations and research institutes such as the International Water Association, Optiqua Technologies and Nitto Denko.

The latest research grants were awarded by the Environment and Water Industry Programme Office, a division of PUB. The recipients - two local firms and three international firms with a strong presence here - had responded to a call for proposals on industry-led research.

One of the firms, industrial giant Siemens, will be developing a low-cost membrane which relies on the heat energy produced by waste matter to aid in the water distillation and filtration process.

The other successful firms are local firms Ultra-Flo and Natflow, as well as OptoTech and DHI Water & Environment. The latter won two grants.

Ultra-Flo will focus on affordable drinking water production by developing an energy-saving, efficient desalting membrane. Natflow aims to channel waste energy from a building's cooling and heating to desalinate wastewater.

PUB will also team up with international manufacturer ITT Corp to establish a joint research programme to develop energy-efficient water and wastewater treatment solutions, in a memorandum of understanding signed yesterday.

PUB calls tender for second desalination plant
To be completed by 2013, it'll add 70m gallons daily to fresh water supply
Uma Shankari Business Times 1 Jul 10;

(SINGAPORE) National water agency PUB is calling an open tender for Singapore's second - and larger - desalination plant to be built at Tuas.

The plant, which will be completed by 2013, will add 318,500 cubic metres - or 70 million gallons - of fresh water daily to the nation's supply.

Market watchers reckon the contract for the plant could be worth hundreds of millions of dollars.

The tender launch comes as Singapore aims to boost its desalination capacity almost 10 times by 2060 to be water self-sufficient by the time the country's water agreement with Malaysia expires in 2061.

New long-term goals call for desalinated water (water reclaimed from the sea) to meet at least 30 per cent of water demand by 2060; at present, just 10 per cent of water demand is met by desalinated water.

The new desalination plant is Singapore's latest water supply infrastructure project since the fifth and largest Newater plant at Changi was completed last month.

PUB also intends to build a sixth Newater plant, at Tuas, by 2030. It aims to triple Newater capacity so it can meet half of water demand by 2060.

Market interest in the tender for the second desalination plant is expected to be keen. Sembcorp - which designed, built and now operates the $180 million fifth Newater plant - has already confirmed its interest.

'Sembcorp has 145 million imperial gallons per day of desalination capacity in operation and under development in the Middle East, and owns and runs the world's largest hybrid desalination plant in the UAE,' a spokesman told BT. 'With our strong track record in desalination, we are certainly interested in bidding for this project.'

Singapore's first desalination plant - the $200 million SingSpring plant at Tuas - was awarded to a Hyflux consortium in 2003. This plant has now been operating for close to five years and produces 136,000 cubic metres - or 30 million gallons - of fresh water daily. The project was PUB's first public-private partnership project.

Like the first desalination plant, the second will also be constructed under a design, build, own and operate arrangement, and use reverse osmosis technology.

PUB has adopted a 'best sourcing' approach to expand the water supply in a cost-competitive manner since 2005, said the agency's director for best sourcing Koh Boon Aik.

'These projects have been highly successful, ensuring high-quality and reliable water supply on the most cost-effective basis as they tap the private sector's capacity and flexibility to innovate,' said Mr Koh. The public-private partnerships have also helped water companies build a track record in Singapore so they can eventually export the expertise they gain here, he added.

The successful bidder for the new desalination plant will enter into a 25-year agreement to supply fresh water to PUB from mid-2013. The agreement will set out the tariff structure and terms and conditions for the purchase of desalinated water.

The tender closes on Sept 30 and is expected to be awarded in the first quarter of 2011.

Separately, PUB said yesterday that six water companies will each receive about $1 million to carry out R&D to improve their offerings. Of the six companies, two are based in Singapore and the others are strongly represented by offices here.

Read more!

Study: Which Is The Greenest City In Asia?

Zakaria Abdul Wahab Bernama 29 Jun 10;

SINGAPORE, June 29 (Bernama) -- Which is the greenest city in Asia? The answer to this question will only be known by the end of this year when the Asian Green City Index is out.

Siemens and the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) announced today that they are conducting an environmental performance study on 20 leading Asian cities from 11 countries.

The countries are China, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Pakistan, the Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Thailand and Vietnam.

In a statement released in conjunction with the on-going World Cities Summit here, Siemens said the cities would be compared in terms of their environmental sustainability.

The cities will be assessed in eight environmental categories: energy supply and CO2 emissions, transportation, buildings and land use, water, sanitation, waste, air quality and green governance.

"With the Asian Green City Index, the Economist Intelligence Unit and Siemens are covering new ground. So far, no other study of this scope has been done for Asia," said Stefan Denig, who is leading this project at Siemens.

The study will be part of the Green City Index series, which sets out to compare the environmental performance of cities in different regions of the world.

Following the success of the European Green City Index, a study comparing the environmental performance of 30 major cities from 30 European countries, Siemens is now sponsoring similar studies for Asia, Africa and Latin America.

"The results of the study will help the cities to better understand and tackle their specific environmental challenges," said Lothar Herrmann, chief executive officer, Asean Cluster, Siemens.

It would enable city stakeholders to make more informed decisions about how to reduce their environmental impact by for example, making their power supplies, traffic systems and buildings more energy-efficient and eco-friendly, he added.

-- BERNAMA

Read more!

Singapore 11th most costly place to live for expats

Today Online 30 Jun 10;

SINGAPORE - Two Japanese cities and Hong Kong are in the top 10 list of the most expensive cities for expatriates.

According to Mercer's Worldwide Cost of Living Survey 2010, released yesterday, Tokyo, Osaka and Hong Kong were ranked second, third and eighth, respectively. Singapore fell by a notch, from 10th place last year to 11th.

Tokyo was ranked first and Osaka was second last year.

The most expensive city is Luanda in Angola, three times as costly as Karachi in Pakistan, which was ranked as the world's least expensive city.

Mercer's senior researcher, Ms Nathalie Constantin-Metral, said the stabilising economic environment and increased demand for good expat housing saw residential property prices in many Asian countries rising at the end of last year and the beginning of this year.

She noted the weakening US dollar against other currencies, together with lowered cost of rental accommodation, pulled US cities down the rankings. New York fell from eight place last year to 27th.

The survey measures the comparative cost of over 200 items, including housing, transport and clothing, in 214 cities across five continents.

Singapore slips a notch in expat living cost ranking
In Asia-Pac, it's now fourth, after Tokyo, Osaka, HK: survey
Felda Chay Business Times 30 Jun 10;

SINGAPORE is the 11th most expensive city in the world for expatriates, one place lower than its 10th position last year, says HR consultancy firm Mercer.

But the city moved up a notch to fourth place among cities in Asia-Pacific - which for the first time has three cities in the top 10 list of the dearest places for expats.

Tokyo remains the most expensive city in Asia-Pacific, with sister city Osaka second, and Hong Kong third. Singapore and Seoul round out the top five.

Cathy Loose, Asia-Pacific global mobility leader at Mercer's information product solutions business, said: 'Cities in Asia, such as Tokyo and Osaka, continue to be the most expensive cities given the relatively strong yen against other major currencies such as the US dollar.

'Other high-ranking cities such as Hong Kong, Singapore and Beijing remain relatively the same in terms of overall cost-of-living ranking.'

Part of the reason Asian cities feature more prominently in the worldwide top 10 list is the rise in residential property prices in the region, said Mercer senior researcher Nathalie Constantin-Metral.

'At the end of 2009 and the beginning of 2010, residential property prices in many Asian countries rose as the economic environment began to stabilise and demand for good expat housing increased,' said Ms Constantin-Metral.

Among the 214 cities surveyed by Mercer, Tokyo was ranked second worldwide, giving up its place as the world's most costly city for expats to Angola's capital Luanda.

Ndjamena, in the central African nation of Chad, was placed third, followed by Moscow, then Geneva.

Mercer said the high living costs in some African cities reflects the continent's increasing economic importance across all business sectors.

'We've seen an increase in demand for information on African cities from across the business spectrum - mining, financial services, airlines, manufacturing, utilities and energy companies,' said Ms Constantin-Metral. 'Many people assume that cities in the developing world are cheap, but this isn't necessarily true for expatriates working there.'

In particular, the cost of good, secure accommodation can be 'extraordinarily high', she said.

Mercer's Cost of Living survey covers 214 cities across five continents and measures the comparative cost of more than 200 items in each location, including housing, transport, food, clothing, household goods and entertainment.

New York is used as the base city for the index, and all cities are compared against the Big Apple. Currency movements are measured against the US dollar.

The cost of housing - often the biggest expense for expats - plays an important part in determining where cities are ranked.

Read more!

Singapore emerges as most liveable Asian city in new Global Liveable Cities Index

Joanne Chan Channel NewsAsia 29 Jun 10;

SINGAPORE: Singapore has emerged as the most liveable Asian city in a new index. It was ranked third worldwide coming in behind Geneva and Zurich in the Global Liveable Cities Index.

Published by Singapore's Centre for Liveable Cities, the index looked at 64 cities including 36 from Asia.

When it comes to liveability, Singapore has been ranked up there with some of Europe's best cities.

In individual rankings, it came in first for domestic security and stability and third for good governance and leadership.

And it ranked 5th for economic vibrancy and quality of life.

But Singapore paled in the area of eco-friendliness and sustainability which looked at things like pollution and environmental initiatives.

Dr Tan Khee Giap, lead researcher, Global Liveable Cities Index, said: "We did very well on water management but this data is not available to most cities. Data which is available in Singapore but not available in most of the 64 cities we studied, will not be used."

Dr Tan said cities can work with the centre if they want to improve their ranking.

He said: "We do simulations by looking at cities and identify 20 weakest indicators among the more than 100 indicators we have. And hypothetically, if you improve your weakest 20%, how would your ranking be raised? So in that sense, it is more constructive than just doing a ranking which can be a beauty contest."

These preliminary findings of the index were unveiled at the World Cities Summit on Tuesday.

The Centre for Liveable Cities said the index is still a work in progress.

While the index is comprehensive and covers 135 indicators, it is by no means complete.

Dr Tan said that they may be looking to include more factors such as gender bias.

Other cities, such as Penang and Tatarstan, have also indicated interest in being included in the index.

The index's framework will be put up for further discussion during a workshop at the summit on Wednesday.

The Centre for Liveable Cities said its index stands out from other current rankings as it takes a more balanced approach.

But the way it’s computed will be discussed and refined further.

Andrew Tan, director, Centre for Liveable Cities, said: "In terms of looking at liveability from a more holistic and balanced framework, I think there are probably very few, if any, such set of indicators around."

Separately, National Development Minister Mah Bow Tan also proposed a "Learning Network for Cities," to share the best practices in building a liveable city.

He said: “Cities differ from one another in size and character. They are shaped by their own demographics, cultures and traditions, their history and geography.

“But there are some recurring themes in the sustainable development practices of successful cities. These themes include strong governance, citizen engagement, balancing development and the environment, and international collaborations."

The push for sustainable urban living comes at a time when cities are growing at an unprecedented rate.

Every day, about 200,000 people move in cities and towns and by 2050, seven in 10 people will live in cities.

This presents challenges for governments to provide access to clean water, affordable housing and good sanitation. - CNA/vm

Singapore is Asia's most liveable city
Republic ranks third globally in new holistic and balanced index
Robin Chan Straits Times 30 Jun 10;

SINGAPORE is the most liveable city in Asia and ranks third in the world, according to a newly developed index.

Preliminary findings from the Global Liveable Cities Index, developed in Singapore, put the city state behind only Swiss cities Geneva and Zurich globally. It ranked well ahead of Hong Kong, as well as Japan's Tokyo and Osaka.

While Singapore came in tops in safety, it ranked only 14th out of 64 countries in the area of environmental friendliness and sustainability. It was third in the category of governance and fifth for economic vibrancy and quality of life.

These were the five criteria used in the index, which was commissioned by the Centre for Liveable Cities and designed by a team at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy and academics in Switzerland.

'No doubt this is not a comprehensive list, but we thought that these are five key areas that every city should provide for their citizens,' said Mr Andrew Tan, director of the Centre for Liveable Cities.

In releasing the findings at the World Cities Summit yesterday, the index's authors claimed it is one of the most comprehensive and balanced indicators of liveability yet devised. It competes head on with a range of existing quality benchmarks, including Mercer's Quality of Living Survey, British publication Monocle's most liveable city index, and the Economist Intelligence Unit's Liveability Ranking.

'Each of these have their own purpose, but in terms of looking at liveability from a holistic, and...balanced framework, I think there are probably very few, if any, such sets of indicators around,' said Mr Tan, who is also co-chairman of the summit.

He said the index, which is planned for a full release in time for the next summit in 2012, has been designed to be used as a tool to guide policymaking.

On Singapore's weaker performance in the area of environmental protection, Dr Tan Khee Giap, who heads the research team behind the index, said it was due to insufficient data from other cities.

'We did very well in water management, but this is data not available from most of the 64 cities. In that sense, there is an over-exaggeration of Singapore's position in terms of its ranking of environmental friendliness,' Dr Tan said.

'But we hope to embark on more survey data gathering...to get a more complete set of indicators for the environment, and we hope we can better reflect Singapore's position.'

Singapore third most liveable city: study
Emilyn Yap Business Times 30 Jun 10;

SINGAPORE is the third most liveable city in the world, going by preliminary findings from a broad-based study commissioned by a think-tank here.

The Centre for Liveable Cities (CLC) released initial results from its Global Liveable Cities Index (GLCI) at the World Cities Summit (WCS) yesterday. Of the 64 cities assessed, Geneva emerged tops and Zurich second. Copenhagen and Helsinki tied at fourth.

Asia-Pacific cities which made it to the top 20 include Hong Kong (eighth), Melbourne (10th), Osaka (16th) and Tokyo (18th).

CLC got the study going in 2008 to assess cities' liveability in five areas: economic vibrancy and competitiveness; environmental friendliness and sustainability; domestic security and stability; quality of life and diversity; and governance and leadership.

GLCI is still a piece of work in progress, but CLC and some of the study's co-authors will present it at a WCS session today to gather feedback on its criteria and methodology.

'In terms of looking at liveability from a more holistic and balanced framework, I think there are probably very few, if any, such set of indicators that are around,' CLC director and National Environment Agency CEO Andrew Tan told the press yesterday.

Across the five areas which the GLCI looked at, Singapore fared best in domestic security, coming in first. It scored fairly well in terms of governance, quality of life and economic vibrancy. But its showing in eco-friendliness was weakest, at 14th place.

According to Tan Khee Giap, a co-author of the GLCI and associate professor at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, Singapore's green efforts could be underrated. He cited an example: the country did well in water management, but this was not reflected because comparable data was lacking in other cities.

Singapore is most liveable city in Asia
Singapore's Centre for Liveable Cities ranks republic third worldwide behind Geneva and Zurich
Joanne Chan Today Online 30 Jun 10;

SINGAPORE - Singapore has emerged as the most liveable Asian city in a new index.

It was ranked third worldwide, coming in behind Geneva and Zurich in the Global Liveable Cities Index. Published by Singapore's Centre for Liveable Cities, the index looked at 64 cities including 36 from Asia.

In individual rankings, Singapore came in first for domestic security and stability, and third for good governance and leadership. And it ranked fifth for economic vibrancy and quality of life.

But the republic paled in the area of eco-friendliness and sustainability, which looked at things like pollution and environmental initiatives.

Dr Tan Khee Giap, lead researcher of Global Liveable Cities Index, said: "We did very well on water management but this data is not available to most cities. Data which is available in Singapore but not available in most of the 64 cities we studied, will not be used."

These preliminary findings were unveiled at the World Cities Summit yesterday. While the index is comprehensive and covers 135 indicators, it is by no means complete. Dr Tan said more factors may be included.

The index's framework will be discussed during a workshop at the summit today.

The Centre for Liveable Cities said its index stands out from other current rankings as it takes a more balanced approach. But the way its computed will be discussed and refined further.

Mr Andrew Tan, director of Centre for Liveable Cities, said: "In terms of looking at liveability from a more holistic and balanced framework, I think there are probably very few, if any, such set of indicators around."

Every day, about 200,000 people move into cities and towns and by 2050, seven in 10 will live in cities. This presents challenges for governments to provide access to clean water, affordable housing and good sanitation.

National Development Minister Mah Bow Tan proposed a "Learning Network for Cities" to share the best practices in building a liveable city.

He said although cities differ from one another in size and character, there are some recurring themes in the development practices of successful cities. These include strong governance, citizen engagement, balancing development and the environment, and international collaborations.

Read more!

Singapore can be a model for green cities

Straits Times 30 Jun 10;

DENSELY packed urban cities like Singapore can be a strong lever against climate change, said a guest speaker at the World Cities Summit yesterday.

Mr Peter Schwartz, co-founder of advisory firm Global Business Network, was one of six panel speakers at the second plenary session of the four-day summit. He said that with proper planning, urban density can lead to energy efficiency and lessen the impact on the environment.

He gave the example of how in Manhattan, in New York City, everybody walks because buildings are close together.

But this is not the case across the rest of the United States, where the dream is to own a house in the suburbs and drive rather than take public transport to work.

'When you look at a place like Singapore, what you see is a viable alternative to an effective urban environment where people live richly, deeply, and with a minimum impact on the land and the environment,' he said.

Mr Schwartz, whose research focuses on climate change, suggested that developing green urban cities is critical as they can be powerful tools to reduce the impact of devastating climate change, which he said is the greatest crisis faced by humanity.

In response to a question on whether cities like Los Angeles should start building inwards and upwards instead of outwards, another speaker, Ms Saskia Sassen, said that Singapore is an 'expensive model' for cities to adopt even though it will become less costly over time.

'We cannot simply, I think, for much of the world, aspire to the Singapore model. We have to change our systems rather radically, so we need alternative models as well,' said the professor of sociology from Columbia University in the US.

In the panel discussion, other speakers also touched on topics such as sustainable transportation systems, and the different challenges that developed European countries and developing Asian countries are facing.

Delegates gather at summit to discuss urban transport challenges
Channel NewsAsia 29 Jun 10;

SINGAPORE : More than 300 delegates will gather at the Second World Urban Transport Leaders Summit (WUTLS) from Wednesday to discuss and exchange solutions, ideas and best practices in transforming urban transport.

The two-day summit will take place alongside the World Cities Summit and Singapore International Water Week.

It will also see the signing of the Memorandum of Co-operation between the LTA Academy and the Cities Development Initiative for Asia (CDIA).

This is to facilitate the exchange of information on urban transport policy and planning, and allow the agencies to take advantage of capacity development activities of either party.

CDIA is a regional partnership programme supported by the Asian Development Bank and the governments of Germany, Sweden and Spain.

It assists medium-sized Asian cities bridge the gap between their development plans and the implementation of their infrastructure investments. - CNA /ls

Read more!

Asian water crisis: Asian Development Bank

Martin Abbugao Yahoo News 30 Jun 10;

SINGAPORE (AFP) – Asia is in the grip of a water crisis that could set back the region's robust economic growth if left unresolved, according to a top Asian Development Bank (ADB) official.

Arjun Thapan, special adviser to ADB president Harukiko Kuroda on water and infrastructure issues, said governments must start managing the resource better to prevent the problem from worsening.

"We certainly believe that Asia is in the grip of a water crisis and one that is becoming more serious over time," Thapan told AFP on the sidelines of a water and urban planning conference in Singapore.

"We believe that the estimate recently made about Asia having a 40 percent gap between demand and supply by 2030 is a reasonable estimate."

With 80 percent of Asia's water used to irrigate agricultural lands, the shortage could have serious implications for food supplies, he warned.

Between 10 and 15 percent of Asia's water is consumed by industry.

Thapan said that the efficiency of water usage in agriculture and industry has improved by only one percent a year since 1990.

"It been business as usual," said Thapan, a speaker at Singapore International Water Week from June 28-July 1.

"Unless you radically improve the rate of efficiency of water use both in agriculture and in industry, you are not going to close the gap between demand and supply in 2030."

In China, thermal power generation is the biggest industrial water user, he said, noting that biofuels are also "notoriously water intensive."

Thapan said that if left unresolved, the water crisis "has the potential of slowing down" Asian growth.

To manage water usage well, people should be charged for the volume that they consume, regardless of whether water is managed by a private company or a public entity, said Thapan.

"Water cannot any longer be seen as a free and never-ending natural resource. It is a finite resource," he said.

While Asia's rapidly burgeoning cities are key economic drivers, many are also inefficient water users, and this should prompt government policy makers to implement reforms quickly.

Singapore's National Development Minister Mah Bow Tan told the conference Tuesday that about 200,000 more people every day move into cities and towns from rural areas.

Every three days, the equivalent of a new city the size of Seattle or Amsterdam emerges, said Mah, adding that by 2050, 70 percent of the global population will be living in cities, up from 50 percent currently.

Thapan said that "unless you measure the water that is being used, and you price that water, there is no way in which you can manage the demand."

"Singapore does a great job of conserving its water by making sure that the price is right, by making sure that waste water is properly reused," he said.

"Israel does that. There are lessons to be learned from these experiences."

Another problem is the volume of used water in Asia that remains largely untreated, leading to massive pollution of water sources like rivers.

Of the 412 rivers in the Philippines, 50 are biologically dead, he said. Between 2.0 billion and 2.5 billion dollars is needed to clean up Manila Bay and Pasig River in Manila alone.

In China, India, and the Philippines, among other Asian countries, the total availability of water per person per year has fallen below 1,700 cubic metres -- the global threshold for water stress, a situation where water demand exceeds the available amount during a certain period.

About 50 percent of China's Yellow River is so polluted it cannot support agriculture, and over 50 percent of the surface water in the country's Hai river basin is not fit for any use, Thapan said.

So is there still time?

"There is time, but again much will depend on how quickly you craft your water transformation agendas and how quickly you are able to implement them," Thapan said.

"This is serious business and unless governments and communities take this seriously now, the water stress will grow."

Read more!

Update on Coral Situation in Andaman Sea from 2010 Marine Science Conference in Phuket

Phuket Index 29 Jun 10;

Dr. Nisakorn Kositrat, the Deputy Permanent Secretary to the Ministry of Natural Resource and Environment, presided over a Marine Science Conference 2010 called “Marine Biological Diversity in Thailand: Obstacles and Opportunities”. The conference was held in Phuket and there were 16 universities and organizations attending the conference.

This year, the conference mainly discussed about the coral bleaching situation in Thai seas. In the past 20 – 30 years, the surveys from related organizations showed that the average temperature of the sea was lower than 28 Celsius degrees or 25 Celsius degrees.

Yet, this year the average temperature of the sea rose up to 31 – 32 Celsius degrees, so it caused coral bleaching in Thai seas. If the rising temperatures last 2 – 3 weeks, the coral dies. However, if the temperature decreases, it would take 2 -3 months for the coral to return to normal. Dr. Nisakorn added that the coral should not be disturbed during the recovery period.

Meanwhile Wannakiat Tabtimsang, the Director of Phuket Marine Biological Center, revealed that the coral bleaching in Andaman Sea had stopped already. He added that the monsoon influencing the sea at this time had made the temperature decrease to 28 Celsius degrees. 5% – 50% of coral died depending on the coral habitat and the coral species. In the area that the coral was still alive, it would take 2-3 months for recovery, while the areas, where the coral died, would take 3 – 4 years to recover.

Read more!

Over 350 cases of Malaysian marine park encroachment in six years

The Star 30 Jun 10;

ALOR SETAR: Some 352 encroachment cases by fishermen at marine parks in Terengganu, Pahang, Johor and Kedah were recorded between 2003 and 2009.

Marine Park Department director-general Abd Jamal Mydin said the most encroachment cases were recorded in Pahang’s Pulau Tioman Marine Park with 144 cases followed by Pulau Payar in Kedah (85), Pulau Tinggi in Johor (66) and Pulau Redang in Terengganu (57).

“Most of these cases involved trawlers and purse seine boats.

“These vessels not only deplete the fish stocks but also destroy corals.

“In Kedah alone, the department recorded 10 encroachment cases in Pulau Payar Marine park between January and May,” he told newsmen after opening a meeting between the department and Kedah fishermen yesterday.

Abd Jamal said his department had deployed 21 boats to patrol all the 42 marine parks nationwide and they are also working closely with related agencies such as the Malay­sian Maritime Enforcement Agency and Fisheries Department to curb such encroachment.

On a similar note, he said that the department had identified several islands to be turned into marine parks.

“At the moment, there is only Pulau Payar Marine Park in the west coast of the peninsular.

“Teams have been sent to survey several islands in Perak, Negri Sembilan and Malacca.

“A marine park, besides being a tourist attraction, will also promote the development of fisheries’ resources in the area,” he said.

Read more!

World's smallest whale population faces extinction

Yahoo News 29 Jun 10;

PARIS (AFP) – The world's smallest known whale population has dwindled to about 30 individuals, only eight of them females, according to a study released Tuesday.

The Bering Sea and Gulf of Alaska once teemed with tens of thousands of North Pacific right whales.

But hunting in the 19th century wiped out most of them, with up to 30,000 slaughtered in the 1840s alone, according to the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

Poaching by the Soviet Union during the 1960s claimed several hundred more, making Eubalaena japonica probably the most endangered species of whale on Earth.

"Its precarious status today ... is a direct consequence of uncontrolled and illegal whaling, and highlights the past failure of international management to prevent such abuse," said the study, published in the British Royal Society's Biology Letters.

Numbering well under 50, the eastern North Pacific right whale -- which can reach up to 18 metres (60 feet) in length -- falls below the IUCN's threshold of likely viability as a species.

The small number of females is especially worrisome, said the study, led by Paul Wade of the Alaska Fisheries Science Center.

A genetically distinct population of right whales in the western Northern Pacific is in slightly better shape with several hundred individuals, but is nonetheless listed as "critically endangered" on the IUCN's Red List, the most scientifically respected index of threat level.

Right whales across the northern Pacific are also especially vulnerable to ship collisions because the animals cross a major trans-Pacific shipping lane as they move to and from feeding and breeding grounds.

"The probability of ship-strike mortalities may increase with the likely future opening of an ice-free Northwest Passage," the researchers note.

To carry out their grim census, Wade and colleagues used two standard method for measuring whale populations.

One was based on photos taken during visual sightings, from airplanes during the period 1998 to 2001 and again in 2008, and from ships in 2005 and 2007.

The other involved collecting biopsy tissue samples to gather genetic material, with a total of 43 taken over a 10-year period.

The two independent methods yielded nearly identical results -- 31 individuals through photography, 28 through genotyping -- thus lending more weight to the results.

Read more!

Gulf's coastal wetlands surviving despite oil

John Flesher Associated Press Google News 30 Jun 10;

BELLE CHASE, La. — From a seaplane 1,000 feet above Louisiana's coastal wetlands, the places hit hardest by the Gulf of Mexico oil spill are easy to spot — dark slashes marring a vast expanse of marshes and bayous.

Yet more than two months after the spill started, the view appears to confirm what many scientists are concluding: The wetlands, a haven for fish and seabirds and a flood buffer during the Gulf's notoriously vicious storms, "have come through so far pretty unscathed," Paul Kemp, director of the National Audubon Society's Louisiana Coastal Initiative, said after a recent 260-mile flight over most of the affected sections.

Damage has been severe in some locations, especially in reedy swamps near the mouth of the Mississippi River. But it's spotty and confined mostly to outer fringes of islands topped with marsh grasses and mangrove bushes. Little oil has advanced more than a few yards toward the interior, despite the many openings created by a labyrinth of natural bayous and man-made canals.

"There may be a few areas where the oil has penetrated deeper into the marsh, but I have not seen them yet," said Irving Mendelssohn, a Louisiana State University coastal plant ecologist.

Favorable wind and tidal patterns, plus Mississippi River currents countering the oily flow from the Gulf, have spared the wetlands the worst of the oil, experts say.

That could change quickly if a hurricane or tropical storm hurls an oil-choked water surge inland. Tropical Storm Alex, forecast to become a hurricane this week on its way between the Yucatan Peninsula and the U.S.-Mexico border, was not expected to spread the oil much more widely than it already is, but the next storm might.

"We've got some bad weather out there and God knows what will happen next," said Jacqueline Michel, a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration contractor who coordinates teams patrolling the wetlands.

For now, there has been nothing approaching wholesale saturation of Louisiana's estuaries, nesting grounds for brown pelicans, ducks and endangered least terns and a buffer that protects population centers from tidal surges during severe storms.

For now, there has been nothing approaching wholesale saturation of Louisiana's estuaries, nesting grounds for brown pelicans, ducks and endangered least terns.

Wetlands are also prized for their ability to filter and store pollutants, so it makes sense that they've managed to keep the oil along the fringes, said Alex Kolker, a Tulane University scientist.

"In this case, it may be a sacrificial sort of filtering, because they're taking on so much oil they may die off," Kolker said.

Wherever the oil has reached, swamp grass has turned a sickly brown and once leafy mangrove shrubs are bare skeletons.

On Queen Bess Island, a bird rookery in sprawling Barataria Bay, waves of oil vaulted over rows of protective boom and fouled the island's exterior a couple of weeks ago. On a recent morning it still swarmed with seabirds, some with stained plumage. Scientists have observed chicks awash in oil there.

Charter boat captain Dwayne Price, who has fished the bay nearly all his 44 years, says he's seen islets that appeared entirely coated.

"When you're in love with something like that and you see it destroyed right in front of your face, it really pulls at your heart," he said.

And the worst may be happening under the water.

If oil seeps into the ground and suffocates roots, the plants will die and soil will wash away, worsening erosion that already swallows up to 30 square miles of Gulf coastal wetlands a year — a football field every half-hour.

Melanie Driscoll, an Audubon Society bird specialist, said the Barataria islands she has inspected were not as badly damaged as she'd feared.

"But there could be a lot happening beneath the surface of the water or in the roots of the vegetation," she said. "It may not be the apocalypse right now, but it could be a slowly unfolding disaster."

Read more!

Best of our wild blogs: 29 Jun 10

2nd Kitchen restaurant serving endangered fish
from Green Drinks Singapore and wild shores of singapore

How are East Coast shores doing after the oil spill?
from wild shores of singapore

ECP Cable-Ski park residual oil sheen
from sgbeachbum

An injured juvenile Pink-necked Green Pigeon
from Bird Ecology Study Group

Planting figs could save endangered species in Borneo
from Mongabay.com news

How do Asian elephants survive in fragmented and unprotected landscapes?
from Mongabay.com news

Read more!

Restaurant dishes out giant garoupa

Zhao Quan Yin, Evelyn Choo Channel NewsAsia 29 Jun 10;

SINGAPORE : The owner of a restaurant in Singapore has reeled in a man-sized Queensland garoupa off the coast of Sabah. And he expects to feed 600 customers with it.

The garoupa weighs 150 kilogrammes and is two metres long. It is so big that it had to be brought in on Monday morning using a forklift.

It took nine fishermen one hour to capture the underwater gladiator, which is now waiting to be prepared by chefs at the restaurant.

There are many ways to cook this S$3,000 purchase - most of it will be steamed, while some parts will be stewed.

Johnny Tan, owner, 2nd Kitchen Restaurant, said: "We'll split its body into 12 parts, all of which will be prepared differently. They'll taste different too. The best part of this fish is the throat."

It could be hard to swallow, but every 200-gramme serving will be sold at S$20. That could amount to a S$15,000 profit for the restaurant!

Over a hundred customers have made reservations for a share of this deep sea wonder.

- CNA/al

Giant haul
Today Online 29 Jun 10;

This giant garoupa can feed 600 people. Last Friday, Mr Johnny Tan, the owner and chef of 2nd Kitchen restaurant in Balestier Road received a call from his fishermen that they had caught a 2.1-m-long Queensland garoupa in the waters off Sabah. It had taken nine fishermen and an hour to haul it onto their boat. In the early hours of Saturday at Jurong Port, Mr Tan used a forklift to load the 150-kg fish onto a lorry. The fish was covered with 200kg of ice. More than 100 customers have said they are interested in tasting the giant fish, said Mr Tan, 48.

Don Wong

Read more!

Group calls for Singapore to act on sand imports from Cambodia

Vong Sokheng Phnom Penh Post 28 Jun 10;

SINGAPORE should address the negative environmental impacts of its sand trade with Cambodia as it prepares to host an international summit on sustainable urban development, global corruption watchdog Global Witness said.

Starting Tuesday, Singapore will host the World Cities Summit, a four-day urban development conference that will focus on “building liveable and sustainable communities”.

In a statement to be issued today, the London-based advocacy group said continued inaction with regard to its sand imports from Cambodia could undermine its credibility as host of the summit.

“Singapore is in danger of appearing hypocritical as it promotes its commitment to sustainability while simultaneously driving demand in an industry that is wreaking havoc on Cambodia’s coastal ecosystems,” Global Witness campaigner George Boden said in the statement.

Last month, Global Witness issued a report that said sand imports from Cambodia to Singapore had spiked despite a ban announced by Prime Minister Hun Sen in May last year.

The report estimated that as much as 796,000 tonnes of sand was being removed each month from Koh Kong province, the epicentre of a sand trade worth an estimated US$248 million annually in Singapore.

Senior CPP lawmaker Cheam Yeap said Sunday that he regretted Global Witness’s attacks on the government, repeating government claims that the group’s criticism is “baseless”.

“As Prime Minister Hun Sen has ordered, any sand-dredging company that operates and causes environmental damage to the ocean will not be allowed and will be completely banned from exporting,” he said.

Singapore’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Ministry of National Development (MND) did not respond to queries as of press time. But on May 11 the MND issued a statement that the city-state “does not condone the illegal export or smuggling of sand, or any extraction of sand that is in breach of the source countries’ laws”.

Read more!

Past flood assumptions might not hold water

PUB review should re-examine data, models to see if the parameters need to be updated
Grace Chua Straits Times 29 Jun 10;

SINGAPORE hosts the International Water Week conference and trade show this week.

Those irate at the two floods this month are dubbing June the Singapore Water Month. Heavy rain and a choked drain caused bad floods at Orchard Road on June 16, sparking jibes about 'Orchard River - Singapore's newest waterway' and 'GSS: The Great Singapore Sail'.

Last Friday, heavy rain felled trees and caused flash floods and traffic snarls across the island. The causes are not clear, but the national water agency PUB said intense rain overwhelmed the drainage system in some areas.

Some Singaporeans are still baffled by the flooding, perhaps because the rainfall was not evenly intense across the island. Roads in many areas were unaffected by floods, and people carried on as usual. So, not having seen any photos of debris choking a drain leading into Stamford Canal, they cannot understand how even a single chokepoint can cause serious damage.

Yet others are urging the PUB and the National Environment Agency's Meteorological Services Division to post online information on flood-prone areas, the location of floods in the past and even the percentage risk of heavy rain.

Such calls spring from the expectations of people who feel that one flood in super-efficient Singapore - let alone two in nine days - is just too much.

Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong put the issue in perspective on Sunday when he said that a tropical city like Singapore will always face the prospect of flash floods when it rains heavily.

Rather than set aside land and money to build massive drains that remain empty most times, just to ensure there are never any floods, it would be more realistic to prevent widespread and prolonged flooding, and limit the risk to lives and damage to property, he said.

In other words, when you live in a tropical island-city like Singapore, you enjoy sunshine and clear skies - and face the occasional flash flood. Deal with it.

The Prime Minister has a point. Singapore's floods have been well-contained and nowhere as destructive as those that have occurred across the Causeway or in China. Short of erecting a giant dome over the island, there is no way to guarantee complete protection from floods.

Besides asking what the PUB has done to help them - itself a legitimate question - Singaporeans can also ask what they can do to help themselves.

If there were a severe flood, would Singaporeans be prepared? Would we be ready with a stock of clean drinking water, food, an emergency radio and first-aid supplies, or would we wait for someone to come to our rescue?

The simplest thing Singaporeans can do, which will have a direct effect on the drainage system, is to stop littering.

The public should not toss trash into drains or onto streets. A plastic cup or cigarette stub on the ground gets washed into the drainage system.

Last month, the PUB launched a campaign to discourage the littering of drains. Each day, its contractors remove a mind-blowing average of 14 tonnes of rubbish from Singapore's 7,000km of drains and canals. The debris can choke drains and lead to overflows, which are a cause of flooding.

Tides are another possible cause of floods, but not of this month's inundation. The tide was not high, and the gates of the $226 million Marina Barrage were open.

But even if people take the no-littering message to heart, the fact remains that Singapore roads have been flooded more than 10 times in the past five years.

Besides the inundation in Bukit Timah last year, there have been floods in MacPherson and Paya Lebar (April last year, caused by 97.6mm of rain); at Orchard Road (November 2007, 99mm of rain); and in Commonwealth (August 2007, 143mm of rain over seven hours).

This raises the inevitable question of whether the drainage system is structurally adequate, an issue PUB is reviewing.

It might consider two factors. One is whether its assumptions about the frequency of floods should change.

Some experts think climate change may be contributing to changing rainfall patterns, unleashing floods. If so, it is time to re-evaluate the average frequency of storms and revise models and drainage planning based on those numbers.

For example, when a storm is labelled a 'once in 50 years' occurrence, that is a technical term meaning there is a one in 50 chance a storm that size would happen in any given year. That calculation - used by insurance companies and agencies worldwide, including the United States Federal Emergency Management Agency - is based on historical data of past storms and floods, and statistical modelling of future ones.

But if the frequency of storms is changing, that statistic is not an adequate basis on which to make contingency plans. So the numbers may need updating.

The other factor PUB might review is its assumption of what level of flooding is acceptable in Singapore.

Granted, no tropical island-city can ever be 100 per cent flood-free, but are Singaporeans prepared to live with two floods in one month? Or is the threshold two bad floods in a year, as in last year?

The Orchard Road flood is estimated to have cost millions of dollars in damage to property and merchandise. No lives were lost, but just one misstep that day by someone could have led him or her to trip over hidden obstacles or fall into an open drain obscured by flood water.

Existing infrastructure has served the country well, but the parameters may need to be updated in the light of changing conditions.

Floods occur. They are unavoidable. But are our agencies and ordinary people more ready for them now compared to the past?

Read more!

More rain, less haze?

Recent wet weather may lead to better air quality
Victoria Vaughan Straits Times 29 Jun 10;

Pedestrians crossing Orchard Road last Friday at 10.30am after a morning downpour. The recent wet weather in the region may help to reduce haze in the months ahead. -- ST PHOTO: LIM SIN THAI

THE wet weather hitting the region in recent weeks may prove a good thing for air quality in the months ahead.

In the years when May and June have been wetter than usual, the amount of forest torched, and the intensity of the haze that subsequently engulfs Singapore, has been greatly reduced.

The head of fire and sustainability at a major pulp and paper company in Sumatra said the haze from slash-and-burn forest clearing in Indonesia is expected to be less severe due to the prolonged wet season.

Mr Brad Sanders from Asia-Pacific Resources International Ltd, or April for short, a leading developer of fibre plantations and pulp and paper, said conditions this year look less favourable for farmers who want to use fire to clear their land.

'Because it has been so wet in June, people have not been able to burn. If it does dry up a bit in August, there may be quite a few people starting fires as they have not been able to so far,' he said.

'But I don't think we'll see smoke haze having a severe impact on Singapore, as for that to happen we need a severe dry system of more than three or four weeks in length and below normal rainfall.'

April, headquartered in Singapore, has 311,000ha of plantations in Riau, Sumatra - an area about four times the size of Singapore. It has had a no-burn policy since 1994.

Mr Sanders, who has seven years of experience fighting the fires that threaten his company's crops, said the weather forecast for the region does not indicate such a long dry spell in the months ahead.

However, things could change drastically if the weather dries up, giving farmers the opportunity to start burning.

But a National University of Singapore climatologist, Associate Professor Matthias Roth, said it was too early to predict how bad this year's haze season - usually from July to September - will be.

'Once the weather becomes dry again, there is a good possibility the clearing of land will resume and we will be affected by haze from biomass burning.'

Singapore's National Environment Agency (NEA) said that from January to May this year, it recorded 772 hot spots in Sumatra and 593 in Kalimantan, but this is before the main dry season got under way this month.

As a comparison, on a single day in July last year satellite images showed 2,248 hot spots in Sumatra, compared with 1,229 in 2008, 1,218 in 2007 and 2,031 in 2006.

'One of the contributing factors to the development of hot spot activities in the region is the weather,' said the NEA spokesman. 'The traditional dry season in the region (from June to September) is normally exacerbated by the occurrence of El Nino, leading to an increase in hot spot activities.'

In 2006, when the El Nino effect was particularly bad, it led to long dry spells here and the haze situation hit a high of 150 in October - classified as unhealthy on the Pollutant Standard Index.

The highest level ever recorded was 226 in September 1997, in the very unhealthy range.

In 2007 and 2008, when the region experienced La Nina, the opposite of El Nino whose effects are often its reverse, the wetter conditions helped ease the smoke over Singapore.

During the El Nino years (2006 and 2009), the hot spot numbers in Sumatra were 12,014 and 10,297 respectively.

During La Nina in 2007 and 2008, they were 7,017 and 8,349 respectively.

Read more!

Newater to meet half of Singapore's needs

New plants to boost reclaimed, desalinated water supply as demand doubles
Grace Chua Straits Times 29 Jun 10;

NATIONAL water agency PUB yesterday unveiled its 50-year plan to bring Singapore closer to self-sufficiency in water. It aims to do this by doubling its reliance on Newater and desalinated water.

These two forms of water now meet 40 per cent of the country's water needs; by 2060, it will be 80 per cent, PUB said on the first day of the Singapore International Water Week. PUB aims to triple Newater capacity so it can meet half of water demand by then, while the use of desalination will be widened by almost 10 times to meet 30 per cent of demand.

To get there, it will expand the Changi Newater plant and open a sixth facility in Tuas by 2030, as well as build a second desalination plant. It did not say where the new desalination plant would sit or when it would be ready.

This dramatic step-up in Singapore's water supply is being timed to dovetail with the expiry of the water agreement with Malaysia in 2061.

By then, the nation's demand for water will be double what it is now as a result of a growing population and industrial activity. PUB projects the country will need about 3 billion litres a day by 2060, split between domestic use and industrial use in a 30-70 proportion.

Besides reclaiming used water to produce Newater and purifying sea water, the country will also continue to rely on its water catchment areas.

Such areas now take up about two-thirds of the island, but with the network of drains and canals, as well as the damming of all river estuaries to form 17 reservoirs by next year, 90 per cent of the country will become a catchment zone.

Singapore has two pacts to import water from Malaysia. One expires next year and will not be renewed. When asked yesterday, PUB would not say if the other agreement, which expires in 2061, would be renewed.

Yesterday, Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister Teo Chee Hean, who spoke at the opening of the Water Week and the World Cities Summit, which are being held at the Suntec conference centre, said: 'Water has always been a key consideration in our master planning, for it is a critical resource without which the city cannot survive - let alone grow.'

But while it shores up supply, PUB will not let up on efforts to get people to waste less water. Each person here now uses 155 litres of water a day on average. PUB aims to get this down to 147 litres a day by 2020.

It will encourage the use of water-efficient toilets and taps in homes, and urge people to take snappier showers. Commercial buildings will also be nudged into installing water meters, repairing leaks promptly and tapping on a Water Efficiency Fund for studies and projects.

Although the supply of sea water is virtually limitless, current desalination technology uses up a lot of energy, and so costs about 100 times more than buying raw water from across the Causeway.

This may result in higher water tariffs down the road, Minister for the Environment and Water Resources Yaacob Ibrahim warned earlier this year.

Hope lies in a technology breakthrough which will lower the amount of energy needed in desalination, said PUB director of policy and planning Chua Soon Guan. So research to cut desalination's energy consumption will be a focus for the years to come.

Desalination will also be used to produce potable water from the minor rivers and streams near the island's shoreline.

Variable salinity plants will be set to work in those areas to treat fresh water, brackish water and saltier sea water. Such a plant was built in 2007 in Tampines for demonstration purposes. It can handle about 4 million litres of water a day.

Water from waste and sea to make a splash

Newater and desalination capacity set to multiply; plans to collect every raindrop
Uma Shankari Business Times 29 Jun 10;

(SINGAPORE) Singapore plans to triple its current Newater capacity and increase desalination output by almost 10 times by 2060 to meet the country's future water needs.

National water agency PUB said it expects demand for water to double over the next 50 years on the back of population and economic growth. To match the rising demand, Newater (which is water reclaimed from waste water) will meet 50 per cent of water demand by 2060, from about 30 per cent now.

And desalinated water (which is water reclaimed from the sea) will meet another at least 30 per cent of water demand. Right now, just 10 per cent of Singapore's water demand is met by desalinated water.

To meet these targets, PUB intends to build a sixth Newater plant in conjunction with the second phase of the deep-tunnel sewerage system, a highway of tunnels that collects used water for treatment. It also intends to build a second desalination plant to join Singapore's first in Tuas. PUB also said it has identified more than five sites for future desalination plants.

The long-term plans were announced yesterday by Deputy Prime Minister Teo Chee Hean on the first day of the Singapore International Water Week.

Mr Teo said that with water demand forecast to double in the next 50 years, Singapore plans to collect every drop of rain by expanding its catchment areas to 90 per cent of the land area. Right now, about two-thirds of Singapore is slated to become a huge water catchment area by 2011.

'Water reuse and desalination will play a bigger role as key sources of water supply,' said Mr Teo. 'Singapore plans to triple its current Newater capacity and ramp up desalination capacity by almost 10 times so that these two sources are able to meet 50 per cent and 30 per cent of our future water demand in the long term, should this be necessary.'

Singapore now gets water from four sources: water from local catchment areas, Newater, desalinated water and water imported from Johor.

PUB's near-term targets called for 40 per cent of Singapore's water demand to be met by Newater and 25 per cent to be met by desalinated water by 2020.

The latest targets, which are for the longer term, come as PUB expects water demand to double in the next 50 years. About 70 per cent of the demand is expected to come from the non-domestic sector while domestic consumption will make up the other 30 per cent.

Advances in membrane technology allowed Singapore to introduce reclaimed water and desalinated water as alternative sources, said PUB chief executive Khoo Teng Chye.

'These two sources have put us in a stronger position to deal with the vagaries of weather and allow us to increase our water supply to meet growing demand,' Mr Khoo said. 'We will continue to invest in R&D in our search for new sources and more cost-efficient ways to treat water.'

Singapore's fifth and largest Newater factory in Changi was opened in May this year. The $180 million plant, which is designed, built and operated by Sembcorp Industries, joins earlier plants in Ulu Pandan, Kranji, Seletar and Bedok. Together, these five plants now meet 30 per cent of the national water demand.

They will soon be joined by a sixth facility, which is likely to be in the western part of Singapore.

PUB will also soon unveil details of its plan to build a second desalination plant to enhance Singapore's drought resilience.

'The new plant will be built through a design-build-own-operate approach, based on a public-private sector partnership to enhance supply efficiency and help keep the cost of water as affordable as possible,' said Mr Teo.

PUB, Hyflux and Black & Veatch collaborated on the SingSpring desalination plant in Tuas, which has been in operation for close to five years.

PUB also said that to manage water demand, it is working to cut daily per capita consumption to 147 litres by 2020 through water conservation programmes and outreach efforts. Today, each Singaporean uses 155 litres of water daily on average.

More desalination, NEWater
Grace Chua Straits Times 28 Jun 10;

IN THE next 50 years, Singapore will dramatically ramp up its desalination and NEWater capacity in a bid to become self sufficient in its water supply. Over the next half century, the nation's water demand is projected to double from 380 million gallons per day (mgd) to 760 mgd.

Most of it will be met by the increased production of the reclaimed used water NEWater, and desalinated water. These two forms of water currently meet only 40 per cent of the country's water needs.

By 2060, national water agency PUB aims to increase this proportion to 80 per cent, it announced on Monday evening at the Singapore International Water Week conference and trade show.

Singapore's two other sources of water are from catchment areas like reservoirs as well as imported water from Malaysia. The drive to produce more NEWater and desalinated water will enable Singapore to be self-sufficient in water by 2061, when its water agreement with Malaysia runs out.

An earlier water agreement, signed in 1961 to allow Singapore to buy water from its neighbour at 3 sen per 1,000 gallons (about 1.3 Singapore cents), will run out next year (2011) and is not being renewed.

Besides desalination and reclaiming used water, the PUB will also increase Singapore's water catchment from the current two-thirds of land area to a whopping 90 per cent. It will tap even minor rivulets across the island and treat water there with variable salinity plants, which can treat fresh water and desalinate brackish water and saltier sea water.

PUB unveils Singapore's water strategy for next 50 years
Hoe Yeen Nie Channel NewsAsia 28 Jun 10;

SINGAPORE : Singapore wants to triple its output of recycled water by 2060, to meet growing demand. And it is expected that NEWater will account for half of projected needs.

There are also plans to ramp up desalination capacity to meet a third of future demand.

All this is part of the country's goal to achieve self-sufficiency before its water agreement with Malaysia expires in 2061.

Currently, about two-thirds of Singapore's water supply comes from its reservoirs, and from Malaysia.

The rest is either recycled water, or seawater made safe for use.

But this is not enough for the long term.

Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister Teo Chee Hean said: "With water demand forecasted to double in the next 50 years, Singapore plans to collect every drop of rain by expanding our catchments to 90 per cent of our land area. Water reuse and desalination will play a bigger role as key sources of water supply."

So, the government will ramp up the capacity of its NEWater plants, to meet half of Singapore's projected needs.

A fifth NEWater plant was opened at Changi recently, and another is on the cards.

The new NEWater plant will be built in conjunction with the second phase of the Deep Tunnel Sewerage System, a network of underground pipes that carry used water for treatment and disposal.

As for desalination, the government also plans to raise its desalination capacity such that it meets at least 30 per cent of long-term demand. That is an increase of nearly 10 times from the current level. However, desalination is a very energy-intensive process, so research efforts in the next few years will focus on lowering that energy usage.

There are also plans to build a second desalination plant. And national water agency PUB said that more than five sites have been identified for future facilities.

But in the long-term, conservation is key.

And while there are efforts to get Singaporeans to use water wisely, companies have also been roped in to reduce consumption.

By 2060, industry is expected to account for 70 per cent of water demand.

These long-term strategies were highlighted in a book by the PUB and presented to Mr Teo at the joint opening of the Singapore International Water Week and World Cities Summit on Monday. - CNA/ms

More desalination, Newater
Joanne Chan Today Online 29 Jun 10;

SINGAPORE - Future water demand is set to double by 2060, and strategies for a sustainable water supply were outlined yesterday.

The current Newater capacity will be tripled and desalination output increased by almost 10 times, said Deputy Prime Minister (DPM) Teo Chee Hean at the joint opening ceremony of the Singapore International Water Week and World Cities Summit.

Water catchments will also be expanded to cover 90 per cent of Singapore's land area in the long term, said DPM Teo.

Singapore's water supply comes from four sources - local catchment, imported water, Newater and desalination. Currently, reservoirs and imported water make up two-thirds of Singapore's water supply.

But this is set to change in the long run, as water re-use and desalination will play bigger roles.

"They are not dependent on rainfall and help to boost our drought-resilience," said Mr Teo.

A sixth Newater plant likely to be located in Tuas will be built in together with Phase Two of the Deep Tunnel Sewerage System, a highway of tunnels that collects used water for treatment.

According to national water agency, PUB, Newater will account for half of Singapore's water needs by 2060.

A second desalination plant is also in the pipeline, so that desalinated water will meet at least 30 per cent of demand.

PUB noted that 70 per cent of water demand will come from the non-domestic sector, while household consumption will make up the other 30 per cent by 2060.

It aims to reduce consumption from an average of 155 litres of water daily per Singaporean to 147 litres by 2020.

Besides putting in hard infrastructure, Mr Teo also said Singapore will continue to enhance public spaces.

PUB said more than 100 active, beautiful and clean water projects will be carried out over the next 20 years.

Ten are due for completion by the end of this year.


Singapore To Ramp Up Its Water Supply
Zakaria Abdul Wahab Bernama 28 Jun 10;

SINGAPORE, June 28 (Bernama) -- Singapore plans to triple the current reclaimed water (NEWater) capacity to meet 50 per cent of its demand by 2060.

The island republic also plans to ramp up desalination capacity by almost 10 times so that desalinated water will meet at least 30 per cent of its water demand in the long term.

These long-term plans were contained in a publication produced by PUB, the national water agency, and unveiled by Singapore Deputy Prime Minister Teo Chee Hean at the opening of the Singapore International Water Week, the global platform for water solutions, here Monday.

PUB expects Singapore's water demand to double in the next 50 years, with about 70 per cent of the demand coming from the non-domestic sector, and domestic consumption making up the other 30 per cent.

The city-state currently sources its water from local catchment, imported water, high grade reclaimed water and desalinated water.

Teo said, despite its limited land area of 710 sq km, Singapore planned to collect every drop of rain, and with the latest three reservoirs at Marina, Punggol and Serangoon, two-thirds of the country would become a huge water catchment.

He added that Singapore, with a population of over four million, aimed to expand its water catchment area to 90 per cent of its land eventually.

Today, each Singaporean uses 155 litres of water daily on average.

-- BERNAMA

Read more!

World Cities Summit: Mah Bow Tan proposes Learning Network for Cities

Channel NewsAsia 29 Jun 10;

SINGAPORE : National Development Minister Mah Bow Tan has suggested the idea of a Learning Network for Cities to promote a community of best practices for liveability and sustainability.

Speaking at the opening plenary session of the World Cities Summit on Tuesday, Mr Mah says the network will bring together decision makers, practitioners and experts to share their knowledge and practices on key aspects of sustainable development such as infrastructure-financing and the use of green technology.

The network will be discussed at the World Cities Summit Mayors' Forum on Wednesday and further details will be shared during the closing plenary.

Mr Mah said the need for sustainable development has never been stronger.

Today, the global population stands at 6.8 billion and is projected to reach 9 billion in the next 40 years.

With the global population growing rapidly, the limitation of natural resources in meeting the needs of the world's population is increasingly evident.

He said cities hold the key to the future.

The statistics are compelling and familiar.

Cities are growing at an unprecedented rate. Every day, about 200,000 more people move into cities and towns.

Every three days, a new city the size of Seattle or Amsterdam springs up.

By the year 2050, 70 per cent of the global population will be residing in cities, as compared to the 50 per cent today.

Mr Mah said this means city planners and developers need to rapidly scale up their urban infrastructure to provide for some 6.4 billion city dwellers, who will need good access to energy, water, mobility and affordable housing.

Cities, by virtue of their high human density and economic growth, are the hotspots of climate-changing practices such as high energy consumption, pollution and deforestation.

Yet, precisely because of their high human density and economic capabilities, Mr Mah said cities own the very resources, the economic and human capital, as well as technology, to counter the problems that they have caused.

He said a great city must be economically vibrant, foster a strong sense of place, and more importantly, sustain its existence over time. - CNA /ls

Mah calls for city 'learning' forum
Robin Chan Straits Times 30 Jun 10;

IT MAY be only the second World Cities Summit, but there is already a call for more forums on liveability and sustainability to be held in Singapore.

National Development Minister Mah Bow Tan yesterday mooted the idea of a Learning Network for Cities in the years when there is no summit, which is held every two years.

'We need a global platform for constant dialogue among cities and partners on sustainable development as well as water solutions, just like the way our international community meets at Davos for the annual World Economic Forum,' Mr Mah said. 'In this context, I would like to suggest the idea of a Learning Network for Cities, to promote a community of best practices for liveability and sustainability.'

He was speaking at the joint opening of the plenary session of the World Cities Summit and Singapore International Water Week at the Suntec City Convention Centre. The proposed Learning Network would gather decision-makers and experts to share their knowledge and experience in areas of sustainability such as infrastructure financing and the use of green technology. The idea will be put up for discussion at the inaugural World Cities Summit Mayors' Forum today.

Dr Noeleen Heyzer, undersecretary-general of the United Nations and executive secretary of the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific, said Asian cities face four challenges: The fast pace of urbanisation, unsustainable development, climate change and the growth of slums.

'Our cities are already home to 1.6 billion people. By 2025, the urban population in Asia will be 2.3 billion people,' she said. 'We need to provide jobs, housing, water, transport, education...for an additional 120,000 people every day for the next 15 years. This is a daunting challenge, considering many governments are finding it difficult to meet the needs of their existing urban populations.'

Cities growing unabated will be unsustainable to the environment, she warned. 'We don't have the luxury of growing first and cleaning up later,' she said. 'We need to rethink our development paradigms and our lifestyles.'

Cities 'need joint effort to tackle challenges'
Sharing expertise, testing ideas can produce blueprint for progress: DPM Teo
Robin Chan Straits Times 29 Jun 10;

CITIES might seem a jumble of congestion and chaos, but there are ways to tackle their huge challenges.

Deputy Prime Minister Teo Chee Hean told an international convention last night that sharing expertise, meeting at global forums and test-bedding ideas can give cities a blueprint for progress.

The global challenges facing cities today are more complex and so require a more coordinated response across borders, he noted.

Developing a long-term integrated approach to sustainability, together with good governance, will help cities 'reap high dividends', added Mr Teo, who was speaking at the launch of the third annual Singapore International Water Week (SIWW) and the second biennial World Cities Summit.

The growth of cities has reached an unprecedented rate. There were just two megacities in 1950 - in New York and Tokyo - but 21 last year,and by 2025, there are estimated to be 29. A megacity has a population of more than 10 million.

'People congregate in cities because of the promise of a better life that cities offer,' said Mr Teo, who is also Defence Minister.

'It is thus imperative to look at how best we can manage the growth of cities in a way that can meet the aspirations of the people, fulfil that promise, and yet is sustainable to the environment that we share.'

Economically and environmentally, cities are becoming more interdependent as they share problems like congestion, pollution and even public health hazards like haze that may cross boundaries.

But cities, because they attract talent and investment, are also a source of innovation and ideas for solutions to these challenges.

Cities should share their expertise through collaborative projects, said Mr Teo, citing the example of the Tianjin Eco-City in China that is being jointly developed by Singapore and China.

Cities can also use global forums such as these 'to promote and facilitate the exchange of global best practices, new ideas and innovative technologies'.

And while many cities are already investing in infrastructure and test-bedding technologies like smart grids, renewable energy and water solutions, he urged governments and organisations to put more emphasis on them.

'We need to go beyond our own city and national boundaries to share insights, and address issues that have regional or global impact,' he said.

At an earlier press conference with the organisers of the summit and Water Week, summit director Edwin Seah said the event at Suntec 'is not just a collection of speakers to discuss issues relating to urbanisation, but to also share from Singapore's perspective'.

Mr Seah said the summit tries to differentiate itself from similar urban forums by focusing on five key elements of a liveable city: good governance, urban planning, quality of life, the economy and environmental protection.

Water Week managing director Michael Toh said expectations are for this year to surpass last year's bumper deal flow of $2.2 billion.

'Without guessing what (the companies) are going to announce, all the components of SIWW are seeing stronger responses...so we are expecting that the number will be larger if not better compared to last year,' he said.

With more than 50 ministers, mayors and governors in attendance, in addition to delegates from more than 30 countries, the World Cities Summit clearly plays a significant role in addressing the pressing issues` of cities around the world, Dr Yaacob Ibrahim, Minister for the Environment and Water Resources, said in his welcome remarks at the launch of the events last night.

Political will and good policies 'key to a city without slums'
Jessica Cheam Straits Times 29 Jun 10;

STRONG political will and good policies which provide affordable housing and access to finance are key to developing a city without slums, a top United Nations official said on Sunday.

This is why Singapore 'is one of the cities that is inspiring, especially for its best practices', said United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat) undersecretary-general and executive director Anna Tibaijuka.

Speaking to The Straits Times ahead of the World Cities Summit in Singapore this week, Mrs Tibaijuka said the Republic has met the challenges of urban development by 'sheer determination and appropriate investment'.

'In cities such as Singapore, where leaders have approached the problems head-on, it has empowered the poor,' said the 60-year-old from Tanzania, who is the highest-ranking African woman in the UN.

Singapore's success - it has housed 80 per cent of its population in public housing over the past four decades - in supplying affordable housing and implementing a mortgage finance system suited for the low-income is crucial in eliminating slums, she pointed out.

'We cannot depend on the private sector or the free market to provide for the poor,' she said. The 2008 global financial crisis triggered by the sub-prime loans in the United States 'was an affordable housing financial crisis', she added. Banks had issued easy credit to home buyers who did not necessarily have the ability to pay it back, resulting in mass defaults of such housing loans.

'People thought affordable housing can be provided by the market, but that obviously didn't happen, and the rest, you know, (is history),' she said.

Mrs Tibaijuka will be marking the Asia launch of the latest UN-Habitat 2010 report - State Of The World's Cities: Bridging The Urban Divide - tomorrow at the World Cities Summit at Suntec City.

The report states that the world has exceeded its Millennium Development Goal to improve significantly the lives of at least 100 million slum dwellers around the world by 2020, and has done it ahead of deadline.

It estimates that between 2000 and this year, 227 million people in the developing world would have moved out of slum conditions, with Asia at the forefront of such efforts.

The governments in the region improved the lives of an estimated 172 million slum dwellers in that period.

But the good news ends there.

In absolute terms, the number of slum dwellers swelled considerably by more than 50 million from 776.7 million in 2000 to 827.6 million this year, the report estimates.

This 'urban divide' between those who benefit from cities and those who are unable to, opens up a gap - an 'open wound' - which can produce social instability and generate high costs for society at large, notes the report.

Mrs Tibaijuka said the solutions require awareness, long-term political commitment and policy reforms.

Not mincing her words, she said: 'The presence of slums in cities is actually a shame on its political leaders. There is no dignity for these people who do not have even the basic access to safe drinking water or toilets... It is a reflection on the will of its leaders.'

The official, who has been credited with raising awareness about the global challenge of chaotic urbanisation through her campaigning for the past decade, said she is glad Singapore is taking the lead by hosting the World Cities Summit.

Asked to describe the Republic in one word, she looked out at Singapore's city skyline of Marina Bay from the top-floor of the Ritz-Carlton hotel and said: 'Spectacular.'

'It is my hope successful cities such as Singapore and Bahrain, where the next World Urban Forum is held, will inspire others with their best practices.

'We advocate everyone's basic 'right to the city', and I hope through our campaigning, we will be able to address this urban divide,' she said.

New technology at cities summit
Alicia Wong Today Online 29 Jun 10;

SINGAPORE - Meet Mika, a "home robot" that can understand human gestures and speech. It can also do household chores, fetch coffee and assist the elderly living alone, all without complaint.

Besides Mika, the Agency for Science, Technology and Research is also showcasing 16 other innovations at the World Cities Summit.

One of them is a novel technology that, by printing electronic circuits on various surfaces such as paper and plastics, does away with the need for external light sources for items such as maps. These then become "self lit".

Now in its second run, the biennial summit has attracted more than 1,000 delegates from various countries including China, Australia and the Netherlands.

They will discuss issues of leadership and governance as well as the building of sustainable and eco-friendly cities and communities.

Spain's Bilbao, which will be conferred the inaugural Lee Kuan Yew World City Prize at the summit, will share how, over 25 years, it has transformed itself from an industrial city to a cultural and knowledge-based economy.

Other showcases include a game where players can "manage" a city for more than 40 years. For the first time, students will also present architectural and planning designs as well as digital games.

There are three pavilions featuring sustainable practices in leading cities such as Suzhou and Lagos, sustainable development initiatives by local agencies, and innovative projects by major integrated city solution providers.

Some 3,000 trade visitors are also expected.

Jointly organised by the Centre for Liveable Cities and the Civil Service College, the summit is on at Suntec Singapore until Thursday.

Alicia Wong

Mah Bow Tan moots urban planning network
Emilyn Yap Business Times 30 Jun 10;

A NEW platform for policymakers and urban planners to exchange ideas on sustainable development is in the works.

National Development Minister Mah Bow Tan mooted the idea of a Learning Network for Cities at the World Cities Summit (WCS) yesterday.

As the WCS happens once every two years, the network will allow government officials and industry professionals to share best practices on green technology, infrastructure financing and other sustainable development issues in between, he said.

The learning network will be discussed at the WCS Mayors' Forum today and more details will be shared later.

Mr Mah gave this update in his speech at the WCS opening plenary session. The event gathered high-ranking individuals from the private and public sectors to share what they thought were challenges and solutions in sustainable urbanisation.

Good urban planning was not something policymakers can ignore. According to Mr Mah, about 200,000 more people move into cities and towns every day. By 2050, 70 per cent of the global population will be living in cities, exceeding the 50 per cent today.

Strong governance, citizen engagement, a balance between development and the environment, and international collaborations are some of the key ingredients for sustainable development, he said.

Asia-Pacific will have major challenges to overcome in the urbanisation process, warned United Nations under-secretary-general and executive secretary of the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific, Noeleen Heyzer.

The large movement of people to cities, environmentally unfriendly development, poverty and climate change are threatening the urban landscape, she said. Various cities are aware of the problems and are working to resolve them. One of these is the fast growing region of Chongqing in China. Chongqing mayor Huang Qifan said that the city is planning to plant 14 square kilometres of trees, and build 40 million sq m of public rental housing to cope with rapid urbanisation.

In the Netherlands, the government launched a Delta Programme and set up a Delta fund to protect the country against flooding. Some 59 per cent of the country is flood-prone, said the programme's government commissioner Wim Kuijken.

Commenting on the WCS after the opening plenary session, Mr Mah said that there is much for Singapore to learn. 'There are many challenges we may face in the future', he said.

Climate change is one of these, he continued. When it comes to managing water levels for instance, Singapore can learn from the Netherlands.

Read more!