Ms Low Yen Ling at Meiden Singapore’s 40th Anniversary Dinner

​Speech by Ms Low Yen Ling, Parliamentary Secretary, Ministry of Trade & Industry & Ministry of Education, at Meiden Singapore’s 40th Anniversary Dinner held on Thursday, 15 October 2015 at 6.30pm, Shangri-La Hotel Singapore, Tower Ballroom

Mr. Yuji Hamasaki, President of Meidensha Corporation,

Distinguished guests,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Good evening.

Introduction

1.            I would like to congratulate the management and staff of Meiden Singapore and Meidensha Corporation on your 40th anniversary in Singapore. This is a significant milestone not just for the company, but for Singapore as well.

Meiden has and will continue to play an important role in Singapore’s infrastructure development

2.            In the past 40 years, Meiden has been involved in many of Singapore’s landmark infrastructure projects - from building the power supply systems for our MRT lines in the 1980s, to providing technical expertise to assess electrification problems, and proposing areas for improvement for Singapore’s MRT infrastructure today.[1]

3.            Over the years, Meiden has forged many strong partnerships with our government agencies, helping to set a strong foundation for research and development activities. For instance, in 2010, Meiden led a consortium to build the first smart grid research facility in Southeast Asia for the Agency for Science, Technology & Research (A*STAR). This Experimental Power Grid Centre (EPGC), located on Jurong Island, has paved the way for major industry players, such as Rolls-Royce, to establish strategic R&D partnerships with A*STAR to develop smart grid and distributed energy solutions.

4.            Beyond power systems, Meiden will continue to contribute to infrastructure development in Singapore as it diversifies into the water business. Meiden Singapore clinched the “Industrial Water Project of the Year” title at the 2015 Global Water Awards for its ceramic membrane bioreactor demonstration plant at the Jurong Water Reclamation Plant. This plant, which was a partnership between the Public Utilities Board (PUB) and Economic Development Board (EDB), demonstrated how industrial waste water can be treated and recycled in an energy-efficient and cost-effective manner. Earlier this year, Meiden won the PUB contract to build one of the world’s largest ceramic membrane bioreactor projects at Singapore’s Changi Reclamation Plant. This is an important milestone that will contribute to Singapore’s target of halving the amount of imported energy used for water production by 2025.

5.            Meiden’s continued commitment to high-value economic activities in Singapore demonstrates its confidence in Singapore as a choice location for its business. I am therefore pleased to announce that Meiden Asia has been awarded the International Headquarters (IHQ) Award from the EDB, in recognition of their new regional headquarters and long-term commitment to Singapore. Singapore is now Meidensha’s largest subsidiary outside Japan, undertaking a wide range of activities, which includes an advanced assembly plant for ceramic membrane systems that was officially opened earlier today, an R&D centre for water solutions, a transformer manufacturing plant and a newly set up regional headquarters for ASEAN, South Asia and the Middle East.

Singapore as the infrastructure hub to serve the rising need for infrastructure developments in Asia

6.            The rapid growth of Asia’s urban population is expected to generate greater demand for infrastructure investments and expertise. Many governments in Asia are looking to accelerate their infrastructure development to cater to the needs of the rising middle class. This has spurred many cross-border collaborations, for example, China’s “One Belt, One Road” initiative and Japan’s US$110 billion funding for infrastructure investments in Asia. Companies can therefore expect many exciting opportunities from Asia for infrastructure projects.

7.            With our comprehensive capabilities in engineering services, project development and infrastructure financing, and our strategic location, Singapore is well positioned to serve as the infrastructure hub for Asia. Infrastructure-related companies with an established base in Singapore, such as Meiden, can therefore leverage Singapore’s strengths to seize market opportunities in the region. We are committed to growing our role in the infrastructure space and welcome partners like Meiden to work closely with us to push this exciting growth frontier together.

Leveraging on Singapore as a Living Lab to capture new business opportunities

8.         As a densely-populated city-state with almost no natural resources, Singapore has always been keen to develop and deploy smart and sustainable urban solutions to sustain a highly liveable environment for Singaporeans. We have earned an international reputation for developing creative solutions such as NEWater and Jurong Rock Caverns, to overcome our constraints.

9.         As part of our efforts to create a sustainable and liveable city, we are also working to position Singapore as a living lab where companies can work closely with government agencies to test and commercialise innovative, smart and sustainable urban solutions that can eventually be scaled up and exported to the region. As Meiden starts to focus on building smart communities through next-generation urban infrastructure technologies, we encourage Meiden to continue to co-innovate with local partners to capture new business opportunities in the areas of smart grids and water management.

Conclusion

10.       In conclusion, I would like to thank Meiden Singapore for playing an important role in our infrastructure developments over the last 40 years. I am confident that together, Meiden and Singapore will be able to scale greater heights in the years ahead.

11.       Congratulations once again on Meiden’s  40th anniversary!  Thank you.

[1] Consultants on Board to Assess Power System of North-South and East-West lines; Work to Commence Immediately, Land Transport Authority, 14 July 2015