SINGAPROE - National water agency PUB will call a tender on Friday (April 15) for the construction of Singapore's fourth desalination plant to be built at Marina East.

The plant, to be completed by 2019, will add approximately 30 million imperial gallons of water a day to Singapore's water supply.

Singapore has two existing desalination plants with a combined capacity of 100 million gallons a day, which can meet almost 25 per cent of current water demand. A third plant in Tuas is expected to be completed by 2017.

The fourth plant will have facilities to treat freshwater from Marina Reservoir. Like the existing plants, it will be constructed under a Design, Build, Own and Operate arrangement.

The successful bidder will sign a 25-year water purchase agreement to supply desalinated water to PUB.

"Increasing desalination capacity will further strengthen our water security and boost the drought resilience of Singapore's water supply," said Mr William Yeo, PUB's director of policy and planning. "Like Newater, desalinated water is independent of rainfall and can be used to supplement our other water sources during dry weather."

He added: "We are progressively expanding our desalination and Newater capacities to meet up to 85 per cent of our water needs by 2060."