Consortium to build second NEWater plant in Changi

Channel NewsAsia 18 Sep 14;

SINGAPORE: BESIN-UEN Consortium has been selected as the preferred bidder to build the second NEWater Plant at Changi, the PUB announced on Thursday (Sep 18).

Led by BEWG International and UE NEWater, the Consortium will form a concession company to enter into a NEWater Agreement (NWA) with PUB by Oct 2014. The NWA will take full effect when all agreements have been finalised and executed, and the concession company achieves financial close, according to the PUB.

The open tender attracted seven bids from both local and international companies with track records in the water business, the PUB said.

The new NEWater Plant will be built in Changi by 2016 which will add another 50 million gallons of NEWater per day to the nation's water supply, said the PUB.

Similar to the first NEWater Plant in Changi, the second plant will be constructed inder a Design, Build, Own and Operate (DBOO) arrangement and utilise the same NEWater technology and process.

The second NEWater plant at Changi is PUB's fifth DBOO project with the private sector, said the PUB. The first four are the SingSpring desalination plant, the Keppel-Seghers Ulu Pandan NEWater Plant, the SembCorp Changi NEWater Plant and the Tuaspring Desalination Plant, according to the PUB.

NEWater currently meets 30 per cent of Singapore's water demand. The PUB expects this figure to increase to 55 per cent in the longer term.

- CNA/dl