Ground-up co-solutioning enhances public safety and restores confidence
Pulau Ubin, 31 January — Visitors can now visit Pulau Ubin with greater peace of mind. With the installation of new water treatment systems, the food establishments at Pulau Ubin have resumed preparing and serving food using safe water directly from their taps at their outlets.
This comes just a month after a joint statement by four governmental agencies on the deteriorating water quality on Pulau Ubin was issued. Corporate humanitarian NGO, Corporate Citizen Foundation (CCF) had worked closely with the Siglap Constituency Consultative Committee (SCCC) to address the critical water issue on the island, through the installation of water treatment systems.
The project was a ground-up initiative conceptualised and driven by the SCCC and CCF along with the support from relevant government agencies. The project developed and managed by WISE Inc, and funded by local engineering and construction group, HSL Constructor. HSL had initiated and seed-funded CCF in October 2014.
In December last year, the joint statement by the National Environment Agency (NEA), together with the national water agency PUB, the Singapore Land Authority (SLA) and the National Parks Board (NParks), included an advisory that water drawn from the wells must be boiled continuously for at least a minute before it can be consumed or used to prepare food and drinks for sale.
Senior Minister of State for Defence and Foreign Affairs, Dr Maliki Osman, as Adviser of Siglap Constituency, visited the eateries at Pulau Ubin to view the completed water treatment systems that serve the eateries there. He was joined by senior representatives of partner organisations from the people, private and public sectors.
“Agencies are looking at bringing water treatment units to Pulau Ubin and for the [residents] to have better access to potable water,” Dr Maliki added. “This is an interim [measure] to restore public confidence in the food prepared at these establishments.”
(left) CCF Chairman Lim Choo Leng receives Dr Maliki Osman to view the newly-installed water treatment systems.
(right) Sharing on the water issue and solution — a ground-up initiative involving players from public, private and people sectors.
Good to the last drop. Testing of the fully operational water treatment systems in two of the food establishments that serve the 300,000 local and foreign visitors at Pulau Ubin.
CCF was featured on the The Straits Times, TODAY, Lianhe Zaobao, Berita Harian, and Channel NewsAsia on its efforts to address the water issue at Pulau Ubin. To view the full articles, click here.
ABOUT CCF
The Corporate Citizen Foundation (CCF) was officially launched by Singapore’s Deputy Prime Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam in October 2014. It seeks to be the catalyst for proactive and constructive corporate collaboration for a better, safer and friendlier Asia. Initiated and seed-funded by HSL Constructor, the CCF is a private sector initiative to pull and pool together appropriate corporate assets to help improve the capacity and resilience of vulnerable communities in Asia, through sustainable livelihood programmes including disaster preparedness and response.
The CCF had established the Swift Emergency Evaluation Deployment (SEED), as its first responders for early access into and appropriate intervention at disaster-affected areas. SEED is simultaneously tasked to evaluate and disseminate first-hand information to incoming aid responders for more informed strategic decisions. Hence, the SEED’s slogan – Bridging the First Mile. SEED’s pioneer partners include the Pacific Flight Services of ST Aerospace (aerospace); Channel NewsAsia of Mediacorp (communications); Golden Season (water) and HSL Constructor (engineering).
Thus far, the CCF and SEED have responded to super typhoon Hagupit in the Philippines (Dec ‘14), the massive Kelantan floods in Malaysia (Dec ’14), and the Gorkha earthquake in Nepal (Apr ‘15).
