Common Services Tunnel

The Common Services Tunnel is a development of the Marina Bay area in Singapore. It is said to be the second of its kind in Asia after Japan. The tunnel will house telecom cables, power lines, water pipes as well as provision for pneumatic refuse collection pipes. The 1.4-kilometre phase one of the tunnel has cost about S$81 million (about US$51 million) while the 1.6-kilometre phase two, which is under construction and scheduled to be ready in 2010, will cost S$137 million (about US$86 million).

Another state-of-the-art infrastructure to be installed in this area next year is a District Cooling Plant, which will supply chilled water for the air-conditioning of buildings in the area through pipes housed within the tunnel, according to the report. Built at a cost of some S$110 million (about US$69 million), the District Cooling Plant will be able to serve 1.25 million square metres of gross floor area and free up space which should be used for building chiller plants and cooling towers for separate buildings. The Singapore government is pumping in nearly S$2 billion (about US$1.2 billion) to build the infrastructural base for Marina Bay, which also includes the Marina Barrage, a Rapid Transit System and the new Marina Promenade and Double Helix Bridge.