PUBLIC UTILITIES BOARD

The increasing tempo of industrialisation and the massive building construction in both the public and private sectors have brought about unprecedented demands for the services provided by the PUB.

Electricity

Consumption of electricity for the first eight months of this year has increased by 22 per cent.

Stage II of the Jurong Power Station (costs: $133 million) is scheduled for completion by the last quarter of 1973. A new power station (costs: $191.4 million) is being built at Senoko. Stage I will have a capacity of 360 megawatts. The first turbo-alternator set of 120 megawatts is scheduled for commissioning in mid-1975. A gas turbo-alternator station (costs: $10.6 million) with two generators is being constructed at Senoko. Its first generator set will be ready for commissioning at the end of this year. In 1973 the Board will introduce a new 230 kv network system to ensure adequate and reliable transmission capacity to handle the anticipated future large bulk load transfers.

The Board is extending its rural electrification programme. Since the inception of the rural electrification programme in March 1963, over 400 schemes benefitting some 230,000 people have been implemented. The Board plans to implement another 70 schemes before the end of 1974, to make electricity available to even the remotest areas in Singapore.

Water

Consumption of water for the first eight months of this year has increased by 5.9 per cent. The Board has under planning and execution projects to meet this increasing demand. After the North East Monsoon is over by January there will be new block tariffs for water.

To enhance our water resources in Singapore we have to pay higher costs in anti-pollution and special treatment measures. We are also using up valuable land for new reservoirs: -

(i) The Upper Peirce Scheme (costs: $71.2 million) is scheduled for completion by 1974. It involves the construction of another impounding reservoir and will increase by eight times the capacity of the existing Peirce Reservoirs;

(ii) The Kranji/Pandan Scheme (costs: $74.2 million), now under construction, will be completed by 1975. It will increase the maximum storage capacity of our impounding reservoirs by about 42 per cent;

(iii) The Jalan Eunos Service Reservoir is being further extended (costs: $1.3 million) from 15 million gallons by another 7.4 million gallons;

(iv) Construction of another service reservoir at Mt. Faber II (costs: $3.7 million) is in progress and is scheduled for completion in 1973.

The average per capita consumption continues to increase. A significant portion of it is wasted. The Board is working out new water tariffs for domestic consumption. They will provide for water at a low basic rate to meet the ordinary domestic needs of a family. Beyond this basic quota the rates will progressively increase. The purpose of these progressively higher tariffs for unnecessary high domestic consumption of water is not to increase revenue but to prevent the waste of water. On the contrary we must encourage frugal usage of water. Some domestic water can be used twice over, for example, re-using water used for bathing and washing of clothes, for the flushing of toilets.

To ensure equitable rationing during periods of drought and to avoid disorderly scrambling at public standpipes, the Board will phase out all public standpipes. It will extend its water distribution system. About 60 miles of water mains were laid in 197 1-72 to supply water to housing and industrial estates as well as rural areas where standpipes had been removed and sites demarcated for redevelopment.

Consumption of gas for the first eight months of this year has increased by about 5.6 per cent.

Construction work on the eighth gas-making plant (costs: $1.5 million), a 3.5 million cubic feet (85,000 cubic meters) per day Zimmer Reformer, has commenced and is expected to be commissioned by the middle of 1973. A new 1,000-ton naphtha storage tank is now being constructed and will be completed early next year to increase the storage of naphtha at Kallang Gasworks from 600 to 1,600 tons. There are at present more that 520 miles of gas mains in Singapore supplying gas to over 100,000 homes.