DJB seeks to learn water recycling from Singapore

New Delhi, June 20 (IANS) The Delhi Jal Board (DJB) has signed an agreement with Singapore Cooperation Enterprise (SCE) and Temasek Foundation to benefit from their know-how on recycling sewage/waste water, a statement said Wednesday.

The Singapore-based organisations will share their experience with DJB in planning and designing of recycling facilities and delivering such projects on Public-Private Partnership (PPP) basis.

Singapore's NEWater project has been highly successful at tackling the water scarcity in the city-state. The agreement would enable DJB to use the same knowledge to solve the water problems of Delhi's ever-growing population, which is expected to reach 23 million by 2021, the statement said.

"The programme will be supported by Temasek Foundation with a grant amount of SGD 463,149 (about Rs.2.5 crore) and co-funded by the Delhi Jal Board," it added.

The agreement was signed by DJB's chief executive officer Debashree Mukherjee and CEO of SCE Alphonsus Chia. Also present on the occasion were Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, Singapore's acting High Commissioner to India Jonathon Tow and CEO of Temasek Foundation Benedict Cheong.

"We have to adopt the three Rs: Reduce, Recycle and Reuse in order to become self-sustainable," Dikshit said. Mukherjee termed the programme as the "need of the hour".