PUB’s new chief executive is no stranger to water security.
As navy chief, Chew Men Leong played a pivotal role as guardian of Singapore’s coastal waters. Now, as PUB chief executive, he is now in charge of the country’s precious resource - water.
He said: “One of the important focus here in PUB is how to strike a balance between maintaining our complex system at a high level of operational effectiveness and efficiency, while keeping an eye on the long term future.
“In this aspect, I have, in some sense, a good level of experience in the navy that also deals with the same kind of balancing.”
44-year-old Mr Chew joined PUB as its designated head in July, calling it “a rather exciting time.”
He said: “We just handed over the infrastructure back to Malaysia, under the 1961 water agreement. And that in itself is quite an important event because it shows that as we handed over the infrastructure, the impact to our water supply is minimal. And that shows that we have been able to ensure water sustainability going forward.”
With the trail of damage in the Orchard Road floods of 2010 still fresh in the minds of Singaporeans, Mr Chew knows he is taking on a hot seat.
He recalled being “a little bit surprised” when he first heard news of the floods.
He said: “Since I came into PUB, I have a better understanding of what we have done previously. The amount of effort that PUB has actually taken to help alleviate floods and make Singapore generally flood-free… I think it’s important to understand that we have been relatively successful.
“But maybe we have also become victims of own success. Because we have been so successful, alleviating floods, that we have not seen a flood situation for a long time. So when it came, it did catch Singaporeans by surprise.
“But more important, we are learning the lessons from this particular episode, applying it, and seeing how we can improve upon it, working with all our stakeholders.”
Mr Chew said the key to managing such a situation is getting information out as quickly as possible. And in the longer term, the country’s drainage system has to be beefed up to deal with changing weather patterns.
He said: “Right now, we want to focus on improving our current infrastructure. And I think that is something that will take three to five years. At least, basically to cope with the increased rainfall intensity. But we will keep eye out in the future… The next two to three decades, to look at the scenarios we could possibly face.
“One of the measures we have started taking is to raise the reclamation levels by one meter. That actually is a measure in anticipation of potential changes that could come from adjustments in our climate.”
Mr Chew has also set his sights on ensuring that Singapore continues to build self-sufficiency in water. This means growing the country’s national taps - raising NEWater and desalination production to 50 per cent and 30 per cent respectively, and increasing Singapore’s catchment area to cover 90 per cent by 2060.
