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  Channel NewsAsia 16 Jun 06
State-of-the-art infrastructure in place at Marina Bay
By Wong Siew Ying, Channel NewsAsia

Today Online 17 Jun 06
Central cooling system for Marina Bay area
 Ansley Ng ansley@newstoday.com.sg

THERE could be more rooftop gardens in Marina Bay — Singapore's "New Downtown" — thanks to a new central cooling network that takes away the need for ugly chiller plants and cooling towers on top of each building.

The district cooling system — run by the Singapore Power (SP) affiliate Singapore District Cooling — comprises five cooling plants, each capable of cooling up to 12,000 apartments. This means that buildings, including the upcoming Marina Bay integrated resort, will share air-conditioning from the plants, instead of installing their own cooling units.

Building owners can expect to see their air-conditioning bill come down by 15 per cent in five to ten years, said Tey Peng Kee, managing director of Singapore District Cooling, a joint venture between SP and French firm Dalkia International.

A $50-million plant has been built and is already serving One Raffles Quay. Sites have been marked for four future plants in the area. However, homes in The Sail @ Marina Bay — a 1,111 unit upmarket condominium in the business district — will use the conventional air-conditioning method, said Mr Tey.

District cooling is one concept that the Government hopes to "replicate elsewhere", Minister for National Development Mah Bow Tan told reporters after touring the plants on Friday.

On Friday, Mr Mah also toured the recently-completed first phase of the Common Services Tunnel (CST) network, a system of underground pipes linking electricity, telecom cables and water pipes to buildings in Marina Bay.

The first phase of the 3km long tunnel costs $81 million and will serve developments like One Raffles Quay. The second phase costs $137 million and will be located near the Marina Bay IR. The underground network means that conventional digging up of roads is avoided.

"I estimate we will spend something like $2 billion in total infrastructure for the Marina Bay area, phased out over 10, 15 years. It's money well spent. If we'd not put in these infrastructure many years ago, it'd have been very difficult for us to sell the sites in Marina Bay in the way we've been able to do," he said.

Channel NewsAsia 16 Jun 06
State-of-the-art infrastructure in place at Marina Bay
By Wong Siew Ying, Channel NewsAsia

Singapore's downtown Marina Bay gets another boost with the partial completion of an underground state-of-the-art infrastructure.

This includes the $81m phase one of the Common Services Tunnel - only the second of its kind in Asia after Japan - as well as a District Cooling Plant which will help businesses cut cost in the long run. Like an intricate network of arteries, the common services tunnel feeds important sustenance, like water and electricity, to future developments at Marina Bay.

Some 1.4 kilometres of the tunnel have been completed. The tunnel will serve the upcoming business and financial centre as well as properties like The Sail and One Raffles Quay. The system will house telecom cables, power lines, potable water and Newater pipes as well as provision for pneumatic refuse collection pipes.

Touring the facility, National Development Minister Mah Bow Tan said that such infrastructure has helped in the sales of sites in the area. He said: "It also gives us more flexibility. We can add, we can shift. Unlike many other places, when you start to add services, you have to dig up the roads; it creates mess and confusion, a lot of traffic jams. For this, you can just put it in, put it around, expand without creating any problems for road users. The other one is the cost savings. I think they are quite substantial and energy saving is one of the major objectives of the District Cooling Plant."

When completed, both phases one and two of the tunnel network will free up some 5,466 square metres of land - equivalent to two-thirds of a football field - valued at about S$200 million.

Mr Mah added that this concept could be expanded to other parts of Singapore, likely for commercial developments, if there is a match between demand and supply.

The common services tunnel is as wide as two MRT tunnels and about 20 metres underground at its deepest point. The URA says that it is designed for optimum capacity and new cables and pipes can be added when they are needed.

The tunnel looks empty now but come next year, two huge district cooling pipes will be installed there. The pipes will supply chilled water from the district cooling plant to new buildings at Marina Bay to be used for air-conditioning.

Singapore's first large-scale District Cooling Plant (costing some $110 million) will be located at the basement of One Raffles Quay, with another planned for the future integrated resort.

When fully operational, the District Cooling Plant will be able to serve 1.25 million square metres of gross floor area or about 8 to 9 times the size of One Raffles Quay. With this new cooling system, buildings will not need to have separate chiller plants or cooling towers, freeing up space for alternative uses.

Tey Peng Kee, managing director of Singapore District Cooling, said: "There'll be economic saving which we can share with the building users, and for that, we anticipate that building owners, over time, will enjoy at least 15% savings in the economic cost of getting the chill water for their air-conditioning purpose."

Construction of the 1.6-kilometre phase two of the tunnel network has begun and it should be ready in 2009. The project will cost $137 million and it will serve the Bayfront area including The Marina Bay Sands.

The government is injecting about $2 billion to build the infrastructural base for Marina Bay, to be rolled out in phases over the next 10 to 15 years.

The infrastructure will include the Common Services Tunnel and District Cooling System, the Marina Barrage, a rapid transit system and the new waterfront promenade and bridge. - CNA/ir
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