The Sino-Singapore Tianjin Eco-City Sets Directions for its Future Development as it Commemorates its 10th Year Milestone

As the Sino-Singapore Tianjin Eco-city commemorates its 10th anniversary1, it will embark on the next phase of development with a set of revised key performance indicators (KPIs), and work towards replicating its development experience.

Mr Lawrence Wong, Minister for National Development and Second Minister for Finance, who is in the Sino-Singapore Tianjin Eco-city to commemorate the 10-year mark of the bilateral project, met with Ms Huang Yan, Vice Minister of the PRC Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development (MHURD), and Tianjin Binhai New Area Party Secretary Mr Zhang Yuzhuo today to discuss the future directions for the Eco-city project. Ms Sun Xueling, Senior Parliamentary Secretary, Ministry of Home Affairs and Ministry of National Development, was also present.

The leaders reiterated their commitment for the Eco-city to maintain its position as a front runner in eco-city development. A revised KPI framework was endorsed to guide the Eco-city in achieving higher targets in environmental, social and smart-city developments, which will in turn contribute towards an even more vibrant, harmonious and smart township.

Apart from upgrading some existing KPIs to make them more stringent, new KPIs were added, including:

i. Achieving 100% wastewater reuse rate by 2020;

ii. Achieving access to parks and green spaces within 5-minute walk from home by 2035;

iii. Achieving 100% real-time monitoring rate and publishing rate for municipal data by 2035;

iv. Curbing urban heat island intensity2 to not more than 2.5℃ by 2035; and

v. All students to meet World Health Organisation’s recommended level of physical activity for health by 2020, and 80% of adult residents to meet the recommended level by 2035.

There was further discussion at the meeting on replicating the Eco-city’s development experience. At the 10th Sino-Singapore Tianjin Eco-city Joint Steering Council Meeting held on 20 September 2018, Singapore and China signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on promoting the replication of the Eco-city’s development experience (see Annex A for more information).

The development experience and lessons learnt over the past decade in building the Eco-city has been collated by Singapore’s Ministry of National Development and the Eco-city Administrative Committee (ECAC) into a documentation book, which was launched today. This book aims to provide a good reference for leaders and mayors from other Chinese cities who are interested to learn from and replicate the Eco-city’s development experience.

In line with its philosophy of being a model for sustainable development, the Eco-city is playing host to the China-Singapore International Green Building Conference (CSIGBC). The two-day conference showcases the progress and achievements of the Eco-city over the past decade, and some 400 delegates will gain insight into building design trends and regulations in China, which in turn enables their companies to better position their value proposition for business opportunities related to green buildings, passive house and urban water management in China.

As part of the Eco-city’s 10th anniversary commemoration, Mr Lawrence Wong unveiled a 10-year milestone sculpture Towards Greater heights (放飞) which signifies that the Eco-city project has taken off under the care and nurture of the people of Singapore and China. Mr Wong also visited the new China-Singapore Friendship Library and witnessed an e-game friendly match between a Singapore team and a Chinese team.

Mr Wong said, “The Sino-Singapore Tianjin Eco-city project is taking off and replicating the Eco-city model in other Chinese cities and beyond is an important new area of work. In order to continue as a front runner in eco-city development, it has to constantly innovate to succeed. The KPIs have set for us high standards – many of which we will need to think of innovative ways to achieve. To execute our strategies, the two governments and various stakeholders must work together, and promote research and innovation in the Eco-city.”

Annex B

Annex C

Annex D