JTC Corp to test new drainage system for industrial estates

PUB testing 2 other projects with different systems

JTC Corporation plans to test a new gravel filtration drainage system at its upcoming Business Aviation Complex to be built soon at Seletar Aerospace.

The complex will sit on a 7,000 square metre compound designed to channel rainwater off surfaces and through gravel and sand before it runs into public drains.

Koh Chwee, director of JTC’s engineering planning division, said: ‘This is our effort to support the overall sustainable development of Singapore, and do our part to make sure the water run-off from our industrial estates is made cleaner, and help reduce pollutants or load to the waterways and reservoir systems as a whole.’ JTC has completed a study that started late last year to devise an alternative drainage system to filter rainfall as it runs off industrial land, before it reaches public drains.

Currently, most industrial compounds have concrete drains along their perimeters.

The proposed gravel filtration system will also run along the edge of each parcel, channelling rainwater through layers of gravel and sand to filter out sediment and pollutants.

Such systems are not new – countries such as Germany have had eco-friendly drainage systems for some time. Studying their systems has allowed Singapore to implement the idea faster, Mr Koh said. However, there are geographic differences – such as far heavier rainfall here, compared with temperate countries – so modifications need to be made.

The Public Utilities Board is testing two alternative drainage projects with systems different from JTC’s.

For instance, drains along Sengkang West Way blend into the landscape, as water collects in bio-retention swales – troughs of shrubbery that filter rainwater through soil layers into main drains.

‘It is with the same impetus, towards sustainable development, that we embarked on this,’ JTC’s Mr Koh said. The Business Aviation Complex will be tendered by the end of this year and is expected to be fully operational by early 2011.

The drainage system will be monitored to assess cost-effectiveness, water quality and feasibility for roll-out to JTC’s other industrial parks. Cost savings gleaned at macro-level from reducing sediment channelled to reservoirs, will need to be looked at too, Mr Koh said.

With investors and industrialists increasingly conscious of environmental issues and corporate social responsibility, it makes good business sense for JTC to explore stormwater pollution control measures, he said.

Source: Business Times, 17 June 2009

More refinery expansions to come on Jurong Island

JTC’s tender for soil investigation indicates land preparation

MORE refinery expansion and upgrading investments can be expected at the Chawan/Merlimau sectors of Jurong Island where ExxonMobil’s 605,000 barrels per day (bpd) and Singapore Refining Company’s (SRC) 290,000 bpd refineries are located, industry sources say.

Further signs of this emerged this week with JTC Corporation calling a tender for soil investigation there – its second in 10 months in the same area – although this time, it is understood to cover a different part of Chawan/ Merlimau.

Soil investigation work usually precedes reclamation, which takes about one-and-a-half to two years, contracting sources said of JTC’s usual land preparation to meet investors’ needs.

SRC – which has apparently indicated to JTC its interest in more land there – will want it for expected new projects, especially with the financial muscle which its new incoming partner Chinese oil giant PetroChina will bring to the joint venture refinery with Chevron.

Sources said that ExxonMobil (EM) – currently building a second petrochemicals complex at Chawan, costing US$5 billion – is also considering a refinery expansion plus upgrading projects such as a desulphuriser to produce low-sulphur transportation fuels such as petrol and diesel.

When contacted, an EM spokeswoman would only say that ‘we continuously look at investment opportunities to meet growing Asia-Pacific demand’.

On the possibility of upcoming projects, an industry observer said that ‘it is not surprising, as every refiner is looking at projects which can improve its long-term competitiveness and complexity’.
SRC, which will shortly be starting up its just-revamped hydrosulphuriser – a US$81 million project to produce ultra-low sulphur diesel – is carrying out front-end design on its next upgrading investment to produce ultra-low sulphur gasoline (ULSG).

While it currently has sufficient land for the ULSG upgrading project, SRC will need more space in future, given the strong likelihood of PetroChina wanting to grow its refinery foothold in Singapore.
‘What is certain is that PetroChina can further grow SPC, which is something KepCorp realises it cannot do, unless it is prepared to invest much more in the SRC refinery,’ an industry source earlier said of KepCorp’s move to sell its entire 45.51 per cent stake in SPC to PetroChina.

Following that, the Chinese oil giant is expected to make a general offer for SPC of around $3.2 billion.

PetroChina has also indicated that the Singapore refinery – which its officials have previously visited – ‘will give it a new platform for its international strategy’.

With some additional investments to the Singapore facility, PetroChina would be able to refine imported heavy crudes here, such as those from Venezuela, with the finished products sold to markets such as Indonesia, Vietnam and southern China.

Source: Business Times, 17 June 2009

JTC temporarily lifts 50% cap on sub-letting

INDUSTRIAL landlord JTC will temporarily lift the 50 per cent sub-letting cap to help companies cope with the downturn.

Revealing the move in Parliament yesterday, Senior Minister of State for Trade and Industry S Iswaran agreed with MPs that it will strain a company’s cashflow if it cannot sub-let any unused space. JTC will, therefore, lift the cap until Dec 31, 2011.

The announcement comes after appeals from MPs who recalled that JTC had relaxed this policy in 2003. Back then, it allowed lessees to sub-let their entire gross floor area as a short-term measure to help companies through financial difficulties in the wake of the Sars crisis.

Yesterday’s move is on top of 5-10 per cent rent cuts that JTC made last month.

Together with 15 per cent rent rebates announced during the Budget, almost all JTC tenants will benefit from lower rents this year, Mr Iswaran said.

But he resisted calls to raise rent rebates to 30 per cent. He said that at 15 per cent, the rebate offered by the government for JTC, Housing & Development Board and Singapore Land Authority tenants is already more than other lessees and tenants will enjoy, even with a full pass-through of the 40 per cent property tax rebate for industrial and commercial properties owned by private sector landlords.

The 15 per cent rebate will provide savings of more than $300 million to some 31,000 companies in 2009.

Source: Business Times – 10 Feb 2009