A Keppel-led consortium has received the Letter of Acceptance from the National Environment Agency (NEA) for an Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) contract worth approximately S$1.5 billion, for the development of a Waste-To-Energy (WTE) facility and a Materials Recovery Facility (MRF) for Singapore’s new Tuas Nexus IWMF1.
The consortium comprising Keppel Seghers Engineering Singapore Pte Ltd (Keppel Seghers), the environmental engineering arm of Keppel Infrastructure, China Harbour (Singapore) Engineering Company Pte Ltd (China Harbour) and ST Engineering Marine Ltd, the Marine arm of Singapore Technologies Engineering Ltd (ST Engineering), will design and build a 2,900 tonnes per day (tpd) WTE facility and a 250 tpd MRF as part of the IWMF Phase 1 development. To be co-located with PUB’s Tuas Water Reclamation Plant (Tuas WRP) at the Tuas View Basin site, the IWMF WTE facility and the MRF will be amongst the largest of such facilities in Singapore when they are completed in 2024.
Keppel Seghers, China Harbour and ST Engineering’s Marine arm’s share of the works under the EPC contract will be approximately 48%, 31%, 21% respectively.
Based on Keppel Seghers’ proven and proprietary WTE technology, the WTE facility will generate sufficient electricity to sustain the operations of Tuas Nexus IWMF Phase 1 and the initial phase of Tuas WRP, with excess electricity for export to the grid.
The state-of-the-art WTE facility will feature Keppel Seghers’ air-cooled grate, boiler design, and advanced combustion system. In addition, the facility’s wet flue gas cleaning system will ensure the facility’s emissions comply with Singapore’s regulatory requirements as well as standards. As the consortium lead, Keppel Seghers will also be responsible for the overall project management.
China Harbour will undertake the civil, structural and landscaping scope of the project, while ST Engineering’s Marine arm will be responsible for the construction of the MRF, power-island and the balance of plant.
With advanced technologies to sort metals, paper, cardboard and plastics automatically, the MRF will improve sorting efficiency, contributing towards the overall recycling rate in Singapore.
The consortium will work closely with NEA, as well as their consultants – a multi-disciplinary consultancy team led by Black & Veatch and AECOM, in association with Ramboll, for the design, construction and commissioning of this flagship project.
Dr Ong Tiong Guan, CEO of Keppel Infrastructure, said, “As a developer and operator of two of Singapore’s current four WTE plants, Keppel, together with its partners, is honoured to contribute further to Singapore’s sustainable urbanisation through this flagship project. This project, which will contribute significantly towards Singapore’s long-term waste management plans, is a testament to Keppel’s leadership in world class WTE technology and will reinforce our position globally as a competitive and reliable waste management solution provider.”
Singapore’s IWMF will mark the third integrated waste management project that Keppel Seghers has undertaken. Keppel Seghers has designed, built and is currently operating Qatar’s Domestic Solid Waste Management Centre, an integrated waste management facility that is treating waste for the whole country. In addition, Keppel Seghers Hong Kong Limited is also currently building Hong Kong’s (HK) first Integrated Waste Management Facility off the coast of Shek Kwu Chau, with Zhen Hua Engineering Co. Ltd., which is also a company under the China Harbour Engineering Company in Beijing. HK’s IWMF is its first integrated waste management facility for municipal solid waste and is contracted to treat 3,000 tpd of mixed municipal waste.
Mr Tang Qiaoliang, President of China Harbour Engineering Company Ltd. (CHEC), said, “CHEC is honoured to participate, with its partners, Keppel Seghers and ST Engineering, in such a flagship environmental sustainability project and will fully utilise its expertise and strengths in the design and construction of civil, structural and landscaping, to complement its partners to deliver a world-class waste management solution.
“With the construction of HK’s IWMF, which is currently the first and largest WTE project in HK, progressing well, Singapore’s IWMF will be the second waste management facility to be built by Keppel Seghers and CHEC worldwide. In addition, CHEC also undertook construction of the Tuas Sewage Treatment Plant in Singapore in 2019. The strategic fit for Keppel Seghers and CHEC will create more opportunities for cooperation in the future.”
Mr Ng Sing Chan, President, Marine of ST Engineering said, “ST Engineering values industry collaboration, especially one such as this that helps facilitate Singapore’s drive towards environmental sustainability. We look forward to fulfilling our part in this consortium with our deep domain expertise in environmental engineering, and core competencies in managing large-scale engineering and critical infrastructure projects.”
The abovementioned development is not expected to have a material impact on the respective net tangible assets or earnings per share of Keppel Corporation Limited and ST Engineering for the current financial year.
1The IWMF is a state-of-the-art flagship facility developed to help Singapore achieve greater environmental sustainability. Besides the WTE and MRF, the IWMF will also comprise a food waste treatment and sludge incineration facility.
About Keppel Infrastructure
Keppel Infrastructure (KI) is a wholly owned subsidiary of Keppel Corporation Limited, a leading company listed on the Singapore Exchange. KI drives the Keppel Group’s strategy to invest in, own and operate competitive energy and environmental infrastructure solutions and services.
Keppel Seghers, a wholly owned subsidiary of KI, is a leading provider of comprehensive environmental solutions, and provides consultancy, design and engineering, technology development and construction of large-scale environmental projects.
Keppel Infrastructure Services houses the technical support and Operations & Maintenance (O&M) capabilities within the Keppel Infrastructure group. It operates energy and environmental related infrastructure facilities globally.
About China Harbour
China Harbour Engineering Company Ltd., founded in 1980, is one of the earliest Chinese companies engaged in international engineering projects. As a subsidiary of China Communication Construction Company Ltd (CCCC), CHEC has branch offices in over 90 countries and projects in over 100 countries or regions.
CHEC has taken over 30 environmental projects including the landfill treatment, sewage treatment, biodiesel plant and solid wastes treatment and is eager to strengthen its development in the area of environmental related infrastructure worldwide in order to create a healthier ecological environment for the public.
About ST Engineering
ST Engineering is a global technology, defence and engineering group specialising in the aerospace, electronics, land systems and marine sectors. The Group employs about 23,000 people across offices in Asia, Europe, Middle East and the U.S., serving customers in the defence, government and commercial segments in more than 100 countries. With more than 700 smart city projects across 130 cities in its track record, the Group continues to help transform cities through its suite of Smart Mobility, Smart Security and Smart Environment solutions. Headquartered in Singapore, ST Engineering reported revenue of $7.9b in FY2019 and it ranks among the largest companies listed on the Singapore Exchange. It is a component stock of the FTSE Straits Times Index, MSCI Singapore, iEdge SG ESG Transparency Index and iEdge SG ESG Leaders Index.