Date: 06 July 2011
Time: 12.40pm
Venue: Suntec City Convention Centre
Speaker: Dr Vivian Balakrishnan, Minister for The Environment and Water Resources, Singapore

Excellencies

Distinguished guests

Ladies and Gentlemen

Appreciation

Let me start by thanking everyone who has shared their thoughts at the Water Leaders Summit session this morning. I am painfully aware that I am a newcomer to this scene, having been in the Ministry only for about six weeks, so let me then share with you some learning points from a newbie based on what I have heard over the last few days. The first point is to echo what my Prime Minister said yesterday that because Singapore is so constrained, water is an absolute strategic issue. What you would have heard from the Prime Minister yesterday, in not just what he said, but I think you will all agree that he demonstrated a detailed grasp of the details. And the fact that he has that illustrates just how important we view water security in Singapore.

2. As far as policy is concerned, I have a very strong impression that actually most people know what to do. The key problem is politics and policy, coordination and delivery. One advantage that we have had in Singapore is that we have had the political luxury of rational decision making. The discussion today illustrated that there is a very tight nexus between food, water and energy. In the case of Singapore, because we import all these key, life sustaining elements, it has helped us focus our minds and to make rational decisions. One key element of this rational decision making has been to get the price right. The price, as a reflection of the true cost including externalities and including the cost of energy, the cost of land, and all the other elements that go into the true price of water in Singapore. So we have had that advantage, of not having the luxury to procrastinate or to fudge issues but to make some hard-ball decisions which we have made for the past five decades. So that is the first thing, rational decision making.

3. The second learning point was the need for integration. First, in the case of Singapore, the PUB is an integrated agency that looks after potable water supply, drainage, as well and sanitation. In fact, interestingly enough, the original history of PUB also integrated energy. We have separated that into a separate authority in a different Ministry. But the advantage of having a well organized system, without cost subsidies, and with rational decision making, is that we have been able to make sure that the energy and the water equation for Singapore, continues to be coordinated and delivered in an integrated form.

4. We have also been able, fortunately, to integrate our private sector. In the case of Singapore, for instance, yesterday, some of you may be aware that we launched our largest desalination plant to date, a PPP with Hyflux with a 70 million gallons per day capacity. And this has enabled us to ride on ingenuity, the capability and innovation and commercial discipline of the private sector to deliver true value to us. Because we are not subsidizing water, achieving the most cost effective way of delivering water has been imperative for us. And in a sense then, our ability to properly integrate has been a key competitive advantage. In fact, talking about the desalination plant that was launched yesterday, Olivia Lum, CEO, proudly proclaimed that she was offering us the lowest unsubsidised tariff rates in the world. Half of the reason she was able to do that was because she was also able to integrate power generation into the desalination plant. And achieving synergy and optimising production cost, has in this particular case, meant real cost savings to the consumer in Singapore.

5. Another theme which has come across in the last few days is the need to exploit new technologies. And again in the case of Singapore, apart from the great breakthrough in reverse osmosis and membrane technology, we are continuing to explore other options, with both academia and the private sector. So for instance today, you heard from Siemens, further technologies in which the use of electricity would be used to also produce purified water. We are exploring options with a company called Memstill, which is using waste heat to also generate water. Of course there is the other longer term quest about extracting energy that is contained in sewage.

6. The point is there are exciting new technologies from other companies of from academic scientists offering potentially exciting new technologies. We will continue to offer ourselves in Singapore to test bed these new technologies.

7. Another theme which arose from the discussion that I heard this morning was the need to share data. If you go to this website called data.gov.sg, which was launched just a few weeks ago, you will realise that the Singapore government is making available as many data sets as possible both to historical and real time, and inviting the private sector and academics to use this data to to create new applications, as well as to sift out new insights which might be useful to us in policy making. The point is that sharing data and creating open platforms, allows greater innovation, and more interesting solutions which will ultimately benefit the end user.

8. My final point is on security and resilience. The discussion on climate change is just a stark reminder that so called one in hundred year events now occur at time intervals considerably less that that one in hundred. The point is whether we like it or not, we are going to get used to a more turbulent ride. There is a need therefore, for us to insure ourselves, wherever possible, wherever sensible, against these events. At some point, the cost is going to be paid. There is a need therefore for governments in our plans to factor the cost of insurance and to factor the necessary arrangements, the infrastructure and technology to deal with these events.

Conclusion

9. With that, I would like to thank you once again for your participation and your contribution to the fruitful and invigorating discussions at this year’s Water Leaders Summit.

10. On behalf of the Organising Committee of the Singapore International Water Week, I would like to invite all of you to join us again next year. The Water Week 2012 will be held from 1 – 5 July, in conjunction with the third World Cities Summit – a biennial event for international, high level exchanges and showcases of integrated urban solutions. To put emphasis on urban solutions, the theme for next year’s Water Week is “Water Solutions for Liveable and Sustainable Cities”.

11. I look forward to seeing you all again in July 2012.

12. Thank you.