TIANJIN, CHINA — The Straits Times (ST) reported yesterday that the Tianjin Eco-City, the second major project between Singapore and China, would be further developed together as a test bed for sustainability solutions.

The first initiative that both sides agreed upon is to develop and apply smart technologies and solutions for sustainability to support the Tianjin Eco-City’s growth into a low-carbon city.

The city will also nurture education, research and entrepreneurial talents and promote people-to-people exchanges between both countries.

The second initiative is to hold regular official exchanges on topics such as emergency and disaster management.

The announcements came after Deputy Prime Minister Heng Swee Keat and Chinese Vice-Premier Han Zheng met at a joint meeting in the Four Seasons Hotel yesterday.

Mr Heng told the media that Tianjin Eco-City can serve as a very good test bed for new, innovative solutions that the world will need as countries cope with climate change.

Minister for National Development Desmond Lee added that Tianjin Eco-City is today a “front runner and model for sustainable urban development”, 14 years after both countries set out to transform the area from a barren wasteland into a liveable city.

“Launched in 2008, the Tianjin Eco-City project, which spans 30km, is a platform for both countries to explore new collaborations, pilot new ideas and share best practices in sustainable development. More than 130,000 people live or work in the eco-city today,” ST wrote.

That is to say, after 14 years of development, despite having 13 million residents in Tianjin, only 130,000 or so people were willing to live or work at Tianjin Eco-City.

Tianjin Eco-City Misses Target

According to NLB Infopedia, the Tianjin Eco-City project was first mooted by then Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong when he met with then-Chinese premier Wen Jiabao on 25 Apr 2007.

Mr Wen subsequently agreed to Mr Goh’s suggestion in principle and quickly moved to implement the idea since Singapore is the one willing to pour in the bulk of the money to build such a city.

The project was initially projected to cost a sum of about S$9.7 billion.

On 28 Sep 2008, construction of the eco-city commenced with a ground-breaking ceremony officiated by Mr Goh and Mr Wen. Targeted for completion over 10 to 15 years, the Tianjin eco-city planned to support a population of 350,000.

Following this, Sino-Singapore Tianjin Eco-City is Sino-Singapore Tianjin Eco-City Investment and Development Co., Ltd. (SSTEC) was founded in July 2009 to become the master developer of the project, as a 50-50 joint venture between a Chinese Consortium led by Tianjin Infrastructure Investment Group and a Singapore Consortium led by the Keppel Group.

According to a 2016 report from the French newspaper Le Monde, which was also published on Worldcrunch, the cost of the eco-city project has “greatly exceeded expectations”. Between 80 and 100 billion yuan (S$16 to S$20 billion) had already been spent at the time of the report.

Quoting officials at the city, it was reported that the final bill “should climb to 230 billion yuan (S$46 billion)”.

That is to say, both China and Singapore consortiums have likely poured more than the initial budgeted figure of $9.7 billion into Tianjin Eco-City and still failed to reach 37 per cent of its intended target population of 350,000 after 14 years of development.

Although the two consortiums hold equal shares, it is unknown if the expenditure was equally split among the two.

London Surpasses Tianjin Eco-City As An Eco-City Using Its Criteria

Jiaotong-Liverpool University professor Austin Williams is the author of the book called, ‘China’s Urban Revolution: Understanding Chinese Eco-Cities‘.

For his book, Prof Williams travelled to dozens of eco-cities around China over a period of 3 years, documenting their progress and figuring out what this eco-movement was really all about. He explored the progress and perils of China’s vast eco-city programs and revealed the pragmatic, political and economic motives that lurk behind the successes and failures of China’s eco-cities.

“There is no definition of an eco-city, which makes them incredibly easy to invent,” Prof Williams quipped in an interview with Forbes.

“Given that there is no definition of what they are, success in achieving eco-cityness can be self-defined too,”  he jested.

“I did some research on Tianjin Eco-city near Beijing and London, UK using Tianjin’s own eco-criteria and found that compared to almost all of Tianjin’s 26 detailed measurement criteria, London surpasses Tianjin (Eco-city) as an eco-city.”

“Should we call London an eco-city? So maybe we should lose the eco-label and just try better to understand what makes a good urban realm. Or rather, what makes a people-city rather than an eco-city.” asked Prof Williams.

Subscribe
Notify of
0 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
You May Also Like

China reports SARS-like virus spreads across country, nearly 140 new cases

China on Monday reported a mysterious SARS-like virus had spread across the…

Hong Kong police ban Tiananmen vigil

Hong Kong police on Thursday banned next month’s vigil marking Beijing’s deadly…

China nuclear plant works to fix issue, ops ‘within safety parameters’

Operators of a nuclear power plant in southern China are fixing a…