SINGAPORE OPENS TENDER FOR LARGEST DESALINATION PLANT

By Zakaria Abdul Wahab

SINGAPORE, July 1 (Bernama) -- Singapore's national water agency PUB today
called an open tender for the republic's second and largest desalination plant
to be built at Tuas here.

To be completed by 2013, the plant will add another 70 million gallons or
318,500 cubic metres of desalinated water a day to the nation’s water supply,
PUB said in a statement.

The agency said the new desalination plant would be Singapore's latest water
supply infrastructure project after the completion of the fifth and largest
NEWater (high grade reclaimed water) plant at Changi last month.

The second plant will be constructed under a design, build, own and operate
arrangement and utilise reverse osmosis technology, similar to the first plant
also at Tuas.

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

PUB said increasing desalination capacity would further enhance the drought
resilience of Singapore’s water supply, and ensure reliability for the
city-state water users.

Singapore plans to ramp up desalinated water capacity by almost 10 times so
that it can meet at least 30 per cent of the water demand that is expected to
double to 760 million gallons a day by 2060.

-- BERNAMA