A place with salinized soil, few vegetation, fragileecology and water shortage will only remindcommon people of poor environmental condition.However, these are just the crucial factorsfor the joint project of ecological city betweenChina and Singapore.

This ecological city is situated in the Binhai NewArea of Tianjin. According to the plan, it willcover 30 square kilometers totally, 20 square kilometersfrom Hangu District and 10 square kilometersfor Tanggu District. Its location is 15 kilometersaway from the central area of the BinhaiNew Area, 45 kilometers away from downtown ofTianjin, and 150 kilometers away from Beijing.

Premier Wen Jiabao and Singapore Prime MinisterGoh Chok Tong proposed commonly inApril of 2007 to build an ecological city in NorthChina, which should be in water-short area anddoes not occupy arable land. This city could beduplicated and promoted, serving as a modelproject. In this way, it could set an example forother areas. In November, the two countriessigned a cooperation framework agreement.In the third meeting of China and Singapore JointWorking Committee on July 1 of 2008, the initialwork plan for ecological city had been passed.The two countries signed an agreement to setup joint companies, which symbolized that thedevelopment and construction of the ecologicalcity would soon enter the stage of actual construction.

At present, planning for energy, transportation,water environment, forestation and detailedplanning for the starting area are all under way.Construction for highway system, pipelinenetwork, and telecommunication facilities hasstarted. Three square kilometers earth has beenfilled in the starting area. The Investment ServiceCenter has been completed. It is estimated thatthe preparation area will be set up by 2011.

According to the latest development, China andSingapore Ecological City Investment and DevelopmentCorporation Limited and Keppel Grouphave signed joint investment agreement anddeclared the founding of China and SingaporeJoint Investment Company. The registered capitalof the joint company is RMB4 billion yuan,with China and Singapore accounting for 50percent each. At the same time, four specializedcompanies of ecological city energy, construction,municipal administration and environmentprotection are set up by investment companiesfrom China and some outstanding companiesfrom Singapore.

Compared to Suzhou Industrial Park also builtup by China and Singapore, this project willgenerate more profound influence to China,who is seeking sustainable development. Facingincreasingly severe environmental restrictions,China hopes that this project will set a good examplefor sustainable development.

It is by chance that the ecological city will besituated the in Binhai New Area of Tianjin. TheBinhai New Area was initiated and set up by theChinese Government two years ago, which is asimilar open economic zone with Pudong Districtin Shanghai. Chinese Government hopesthat it will explore a new development mode,which pays more attention to the balancing betweendevelopment and environment.

According to the planning, the ecological city willoccupy a ground space about 30 square kilometers,accommodating a population of 350,000. Itwill take approximately 10 to 15 years for the cityto be completed. The population of permanentresidents of the city will be controlled within350,000 by 2020.

Cui Guangzhi, deputy director of administrativecommittee of the ecological city, claimed thatdetailed initial planning of the starting area fullystudied and referred to successful experienceand technology from Singapore in areas of GardenCity construction, environment protection,transportation, landscape engineering and publichealth.

According to the planning, the starting areais situated at the south of the ecological city,with the ground space of 3 square kilometers,residence area about 2.8 million square meters,and population about 80,000. This planning is aresult of joint designing by China and Singapore.It continues to taking ecological concern as thetop priority and sticks to people-oriented principle.It also establishes a structure of ecologicalcells, ecological neighborhoods, and ecologicalcommunities.

The two countries show great confidence to thefuture of this project, which is also reflected inthe planning. The ecological city will build up5 grades of commercial service centers — themain center, secondary center, comprehensivearea center, resident community center and theprimary-level community center. An ecologicalvalley from south to north will also be built toconnect four ecological comprehensive areaswith the ecological main center and to link transportationstations. Eventually city will realize thespace layout as following — one axis, three centersand four areas; one island, three rivers andsix corridors.

New energy and energy-saving technology willbe widely adopted in the eco-city. Clean energyand renewable energy resources, such as windpower, solar energy, underground heat pumpand air source heat pump, will reduce carbonemission to the largest extent. All the buildingsin the ecological city should conform to thegreen architectural design standards. What’smore, they also test and explore zero energyconsumption house.

Experts believe that this new joint project is thehighlight of the cooperation between China andSingapore. It shows the determination of the twocountries to cope with global warming problem,strengthen environment protection efforts andsave energy and resources. The two countriesalso form Sino-Singapore Coordination Committeeat vice-premier level and Sino-SingaporeJoint Working Committee at ministerial level topromote this project.