Horse Already Out of Barn

China and Singapore will build an "eco-city" in Tianjin using a new joint venture between firms from both countries, with Singapore's Keppel Corporation playing a lead role, AFP reported. The project will use advanced energy-saving and environmental technologies in hopes of turning Tianjin into a model "green" city. Singapore government officials said the project's management, technology, and policy aspects will serve as a reference for other Chinese cities. The announcement was made during Prime Minister Wen Jiabao's five-day visit to Singapore, the first visit by a Chinese premier in eight years. Bilateral trade between China and Singapore totaled US$59 billion last year, up from US$44 billion in 2005.

Tianjin is a fairly large city - 12 million or so. And it looks like every other Chinese city from a pollution standpoint. It's a laudable goal to clean it up, but any expectations that it will be a model "green" city in the next 10 years are misplaced.

I believe Tianjin is the second largest port city, second to Shanghai. Its development zone, TEDA, supports a great deal of heavy manufacturing. We have a number of clients in the zone.

If they are going to set their sights as high as Tianjin, I wish they'd shoot for Shanghai. There's nothing "green" in the city at the moment, so they'd be starting at ground zero.