The Straits Times / The Business Times News on Hyflux

Singapore signs up to be key player in Tianjin

TIANJIN - BORDERING the Bohai Sea in China's north-east, Tianjin is not the first name that comes to mind for Singaporean businessmen and investors, who are traditionally drawn to the booming south and coastal areas.

Officials in the northern port city are hoping to change that after signing several agreements with Singapore yesterday to boost trade and investments in Tianjin, which stands poised to be a key player in the next centre of growth in China.

Tianjin will host a 'Singapore Week' later next month, where a trade show will showcase the business opportunities in both cities and encourage greater partnership.

The Chinese government has set out to achieve more balanced growth by creating economic engines beyond those in the southern and coastal areas.

Its latest five-year economic blueprint calls for turning the Bohai Rim area - comprising the capital Beijing, Tianjin and its surrounding areas - into the next engine of growth in northern China.

A sprawling 2,270 sq km stretch of land in eastern Tianjin - dubbed the Tianjin Binhai New Area (TBNA) - will be the focal point of this initiative, Chinese officials said.

IE Singapore, the agency spearheading the development of an external economic wing, signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with TBNA yesterday, to help Singapore companies tap opportunities in the region.

The signing was witnessed by visiting Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and top officials from Tianjin.

Keppel Land also signed an MOU with a local partner to explore the development of township projects along the mass rail transit line in the TBNA, while Singapore Airport Terminal Services upped its stake in a company handling cargo services at Tianjin Airport.

Mr Lee, who last visited the city's Hangu district 20 years ago, said he was impressed by the changes and believed there was great potential in Tianjin.

'Tianjin is developing rapidly and Singapore is also looking beyond the Pearl River Delta and the Yangtze River Delta... Our businessmen are venturing further from the traditional areas to find new areas of cooperation,' he said.

During yesterday's visit to Tianjin, Mr Lee also officiated at the ground-breaking ceremony of Singapore water treatment company Hyflux's new desalination plant in the city's Dagang district.

The plant is the biggest desalination project in China to date. When completed in 2007, it will supply 100,000 cubic m of water daily to the district.