Water project planned for S'pore in Indonesia

Water project planned for S'pore in Indonesia

SINGAPORE (AP): A U.S. $1.5 billion water project which would harness a water catchment 80 times the size of Singapore is tipped to go ahead in Indonesia's Riau province, a local newspaper reported Sunday.

The project involves Indonesia-listed Upton Synergy Indonesia, Riau government-owned Riau State Holdings and possible Singaporean companies including listed construction company Poh Lian Holdings, which has already acquired the right to buy a 20 percent stake in the consortium, The Sunday Times reported.

Two other companies which have been linked to the project are Singapore government-linked Singapore Technologies Engineering and SembCorp Engineering, the report said.

The catchment would channel water through two undersea pipelines, a 250 kilometer (155 miles) line from Riau's Sungai Kampar river to Bintan island and another 200 kilometer (124 miles) line from Bintan to Singapore, the report said.

Riau State Holdings president Arsyadjuliandi Rachman said once the deal was signed the project could be completed in four to five years.

"At the moment we are drafting the final agreement on the project to supply water to Singapore," he was quoted as saying in the report.

He said his company will propose a joint feasibility study by the Riau government and its Singapore partner to "show that there are no problems in the accounting and supply of water," the report said.

Tiny Singapore currently depends on its neighbor to the north, Malaysia for its water supply. Malaysia's Johor province supplies 214 million liters of raw water a day to the city-state.

Singapore is the sixth-most water short country in the world, the report added.

"Water scarcity is defined as less than 1,000 cubic meters (1,300 cubic yards) per person, per year. In 1995, Singapore had 180 cubic meters (234 cubic yards) per person," the report said.