Infrastructure construction company HSL and Dutch consortium Urban Farming Partners formally marked their partnership at the seminar on Circular Industrial Parks, part of CleanEnviro Summit Singapore. The two partners will develop a business plan for their envisaged urban farm. This farm will be located inside the premises of HSL at the waterfront at Penjuru Road, opposite Jurong Island. Aside from being the owner of the location and investor, HSL will play a significant role in the company behind the urban farm. Urban Farming Partners is a public-private partnership with expertise in various aspects of indoor growing concepts, from growing and logistics to marketing and urban planning. The aim of the cooperation is to produce vegetables for the local market in a sustainable manner.
H.E. Ms Margriet Vonno, Mr Lim Choo Leng, Mr Ahmed Aboutaleb, Mr Wouter Vos during the signing ceremony. Credit: Thomas Choong
About 10% of the food that is consumed in Singapore is produced locally. The Singapore Agri-food and Veterinary Authority (AVA) supports and encourages initiatives that contribute to a higher level of self-sufficiency in greens. With the industry of indoor farming still in its infancy, Urban Farming Partners chooses to engineer the farm backwards, starting with the demand and making sure the technologies applied are in line with local consumer trends. Moreover, solutions from the circular economy concepts will be applied, such as the use of solar energy, rain water and by-products of neighboring companies, like CO2 and residual cooling.
The signing ceremony was witnessed by the chairman of the Centre for Liveable Cities, Mr Khoo Teng Chye, Mr Ahmed Aboutaleb, mayor of the city of Rotterdam, and H.E. Ms Margriet Vonno, Ambassador of the Kingdom of the Netherlands.
For more information:
www.hsl.com.sg