SembCorp wins contract to design-build-own-operate Singapore's fifth and largest NEWater plant

January 18, 2008

- Sembcorp to supply 50 million gallons per day of NEWater to PUB Singapore

Sembcorp Industries (Sembcorp) has been awarded the fifth and largest NEWater project from PUB, Singapore’s national water agency, following an open tender.

The plant, under PUB’s Design-Build-Own-Operate (DBOO) scheme, will have an initial capacity of 15 million gallons per day in 2009 and will be ramped up to 50 million gallons per day (228,000 cubic metres per day) by 2010. When completed, it will be one of the largest water recycling plants in the world, producing 50 million gallons per day of NEWater over a term of 25 years.

The investment, valued at approximately S$180 million, will be funded through a mix of bank borrowings and internal sources. The first year NEWater price will be S$0.29966 per cubic metre.

Sembcorp is one of the pioneers in the water recycling business in Singapore since 1999, producing 35,000 cubic metres per day of high-grade industrial water for industrial customers on Jurong Island. When the Changi NEWater plant is completed in 2010, Sembcorp will manage a total of approximately four million cubic metres per day of water around the world. Sembcorp’s water management projects and services to its industrial customers globally include water recycling, water and wastewater treatment, and the supply of high-grade industrial water, demineralised water, cooling water and other types of water products. It also operates the Fujairah Independent Water and Power Plant in the UAE, which is one of the world’s largest desalination plants.

The Changi NEWater Plant will adopt the same technology pioneered by PUB that is used in the existing NEWater plants. NEWater is high-grade reclaimed water produced from treated used water that is further purified using advanced microfiltration/ultrafiltration and reverse osmosis membranes and ultraviolet technologies, making the water exceptionally clean and safe to drink.

Said Mr Tang Kin Fei, Group President and CEO of Sembcorp. “The Changi NEWater project is a very strategic project for Sembcorp and it marks a major milestone achieved. We are pleased that we have been selected to partner PUB in their newest and largest DBOO project and that we are able to contribute towards Singapore’s vision for water sustainability.

“Leveraging on this project and our proven track record, we are now in an even better position to seize growth opportunites in the fast-growing water sector internationally.”

The contract is not expected to have a material impact on the earnings per share and net tangible assets per share of Sembcorp Industries for the current financial year.