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.'
