Singapore’s Public Utilities Board plans to develop fourth desalination plant

Singapore’s national water agency Public Utilities Board (PUB) intends to develop the fourth desalination facility in the country to strengthen its resilience against drought.

PUB policy and development deputy chief executive Chua Soon Guan said: "PUB has been making investments to build up and diversify our water supply sources in order to strengthen our water security.

"During the dry weather in recent years, we were able to ensure supply by increasing the production of NEWater and desalinated water.

"Building up weather-resilient water sources will help us be better prepared for possible prolonged periods of dry spells in future."

The firm intends to call a tender for the provision of consultancy services for the facility. The tender will be aimed at offering the engineering design for the facility construction under a design-build-own-operate (DBOO) arrangement.

Planned to be built in Marina East, the facility will be located near the zones with high water demand in the city and eastern Singapore.

The Marina East desalination plant will also be equipped to enable purification of freshwater from the Marina Reservoir.

PUB works as a statutory board under Singapore’s Ministry of the Environment and Water Resources. The agency is responsible for the integrated management of the water supply, water catchment and used water in the country.